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S LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 1 

| Mo. 1 

S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I 



(* 



GRAEFENBERG 



A TRUE REPORT 



THE WATER CURE 



AN ACCOUNT OF ITS ANTIQUITY 



ROBERT HAY GRAHAM, M.D. 



Nunc agilis fio, et mersor salubribus undis. 

Hor. 



LONDON : 
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 

1844. 






RONDOS : 
rrilNTED EY R. CI..AY, BREAD STKF.F.T U'.Ll. 



TO 



CAPTAIN JAMES WOLFF, 

EVENTII REGIMENT OF THE LINE, KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA. 



My Dear Captain Wolff, 

It is to you that I am indebted for the 
most valuable part of the information I obtained on the 
Water Treatment at Graefenberg. To you also am 
I indebted for a more than brotherly kindness and 
attention, whilst laid on a bed of sickness. Accept, 
therefore, in return, this public testimony to your private 
worth, as an offering of that gratitude which is so 
largely due from 

Your ever obedient and affectionate Friend, 

R. H. GRAHAM. 



47, Great Portland Street, London. 
Mlh June, 1844. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the following account of the '- water cure" as prac- 
tised at Graefenberg, the subject is treated with the 
strictest impartiality. The danger attending it, is illus- 
trated by cases that terminated fatally, and the benefits 
derivable from it, are made equally manifest by others 
that were happily cured. 

The " water treatment" is an old English method 
of curing diseases, and was, early in the last century, 
transplanted from this country into Germany, where, 
having fallen into disuse, it was accidentally revived by 
Vincent Priessnitz, who now svureptitiously claims the 
credit of the invention. That it was an old English 
practice, will be fully borne out by the Appendix to 
this volume, which contains a mass of more valuable 
information respecting it than has ever before been 
collected. 

The facts 1 have stated, and the observations I have 
made, having been somewhat hastily thrown together, 
will, I trust, be accepted in excuse for the want of 
method and of style. The former may be relied on 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

as correct, whilst the latter will, of course, be subject 
to the criticism of the reader. The main object has 
been to place that which is excellent in itself upon a 
solid foundation, — to rescue it from the hands of igno- 
rant pretenders, — to prevent it from falling into the 
disrepute and oblivion which it has been doomed, more 
than once, to suffer, and, at the same time, to point 
out, not only the practicability, but the great advan- 
tage, of combining it, more or less, with other remedial 
means. The cases contained in the Appendix, and 
said to have been treated by Vander Heyden, Floyer, 
Baynard, Hancock, Halm, Currie, and others, simply 
and successfully by cold water, cannot fail to excite a 
lively interest, and are such, that even the medical 
reader may derive from them much useful information ; 
whilst those mentioned by myself, as having terminated 
unsuccessfully at Graefenberg, may be considered rather 
as beacons to steer by, than as shoals to deter us from 
our course. 

The public are much indebted to Mr. Claridge for 
introducing this remedy to their notice. Having before 
his eyes the uncertainty of the medical art, his object 
has been to benefit mankind, by what appeared to him 
a more certain, as well as a more simple, mode of curing 
disease. As " charity covereth a multitude of sins," so 
let this his good intention cover the numerous errors of 



INTRODUCTION. 6 

his book, — errors, which may be attributed as well to 
the enthusiasm called forth on the occasion, as to his 
deficient of knowledge in the physiology of the human 
frame. 

Notwithstanding I visited Graefenberg free from every 
prejudice, I was, nevertheless, prepared to receive with 
caution whatever might be related to me, having made 
up my mind to trust implicitly to the evidence of my own 
senses ; and, in order to become the better acquainted 
with the method of " cure," I determined to experience 
in my own person the effects it produced. The enthu- 
siasm which prevails there, and the marvellous qualities 
attributed to Priessnitz, can only be accounted for by 
taking the German character into consideration. Ger- 
many is, 2 jar excellence, the land of fiction and of 
charlatanism, the country of Mesmer, Hohenlohe, and 
Hahnemann, where the credulity of the middle ages still 
exists, and where the mind of man, as to ideality and 
spiritualism, has scarcely undergone a change from the 
earliest period down to the present time. Thus, in the 
days of Tacitus, the Germans had their inspired females, 
or Pythonesses, whom they consulted as to future events. 
During the middle ages, they supplied the rest of 
Europe with Alchemists and Astrologers. From their 
love of the mysterious, they established the holy Vehme, 

or secret inquisitorial tribunal, winch flourished for nearly 

b 2 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

eight hundred years. A visionary people are they — 
whose ideas are constantly roaming beyond the regions of 
nature — spiritualism and abstract ideality pervade their 
literature, their poetry, and their philosophy, even in our 
own time ! None but a German could ever have written 
the unintelligible, sublimated metaphysics contained in 
the " La Morale Transcendentale " of Kant, a work 
singularly coincident with the name of the author. None 
but a German could have imagined the character of 
Mephistophiles — a personification of the abstract principle 
of evil; or the Demons of the Hartz Mountain. The 
German, Mesmer, discovered the abstract principle of 
die soul, — animal magnetism, capable of producing such 
wondrous effects, — where the soul, the pure intelligent 
principle, divested of gross matter, acts independently 
of the body, without the intervention of the senses. 
None but a German could ever have discovered the 
abstract principle of medicines — viz. that an infinitesimal 
dose, smaller, if possible, than an integral particle, 
possesses much greater healing virtue than the aggregate 
millions of particles of the same substance, constituting 
a medium dose. This abstract virtue is communicable, 
like the aroma of flowers, so as to impregnate an 
homoeopathic mass ; and thus the medicinal property 
may be disseminated ad infinitum, and the more it is 
subdivided and elaborated, the more intense and con- 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

centrated will it become, and the more certain and 
expeditious in its effects. Nor is this all ; — the same 
German mind discovered the fallacy of the old Hippo- 
cratic maxim, " contraria contrariis cmantur," which 
implies an antipathy between the remedy and the 
disease; whereas now we have it that the medicine 
coalesces by sympathy with the disease — " similia simi- 
libus curantur;" and as "like begets like," so does the 
same medicine, which cures a disease in a sick body, 
generate a similar disease in a healthy one ; — thus, an 
homoeopathic dose of quinine cures an intermittent fever 
in the one case, and produces it in the other. 

The same propensity to the mysterious may be recog- 
nised in the notable miracles of Prince Hohenlohe. 
This Prelate composed suitable forms of prayer for 
patients variously affected, and, giving directions as to 
the day, the hour, and the precise minute when they 
were to be offered up, he simultaneously repeated the 
same prayers. This proceeding, by sympathy also, pro- 
duced the desired effect, "though the petitioners were 
often some hundreds of leagues apart," verifying the 
sacred proverb, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." The 
Austrian Government judiciously prohibited the perform- 
ance of any more of these pretended miracles, lest the 
sacred office of the Bishop should be scandalized and 
religion brought into contempt. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Every medical practitioner knows well enough the 
powers of the imagination, — the influence which the mind 
exerts over the body, — its frequent salutary effects, in 
cases of sickness, and its equally freqnent baneful effects, 
even to the extinction of life itself. Some years ago, 
Locatelli, of Milan, related to me the following anec- 
dote : — " A peasant once came to consnlt me," said he, 
"on a case of obstinate constipation, which had lasted 
for about three weeks. I wrote him a prescription, and 
directed him. to take it fasting. About two months 
afterwards the man came again to consult me for the 
same complaint. c Well, my good fellow !' said I, ' how 
did the prescription operate?' ' Very well, indeed, sir/ 
replied the man ; ' it purged me greatly, and I remained 
quite well for upwards of a month, — now I am come for 
another.' ' Then take it again,' rejoined I. ' How 
can I ?' said the man ; ' I did as you told me ; I took 
it when I got home, and it passed through me, as you 
said it would.' ' Thus, the man had actually taken the 
prescription itself, and believed that the abbreviated 
words, written in an unknown tongue, terminating with 
the cabalistic figures of ounces, drachms, and scruples, 
had constituted a charm, — an invocation to some saint to 
purge him, — imagination did the rest. Anecdotes of 
this sort, illustrative of the influence of the mind over 
the body, might be collected sufficient to fill volumes. 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

In short, it is to this, and this alone, that all the 
effects of animal magnetism, metallic tractors, and 
homoeopathic remedies, are to be attributed. 

The sympathetic prayers of Prince Hohenlohe remind 
me of another German method of curing diseases. The 
sick man, in this case, procured a proxy, who was bled, 
blistered, physicked, and dieted, whilst he, in the 
interim, ate and drank whatever he chose. The reader 
may find an amusing anecdote of this kind related by 
the justly celebrated Ambrose Parey, the father of 
modern surgery ; it failed, however, in its result. The 
sympathetic cure of wounds was much more success- 
ful, and led to one of our greatest improvements in 
surgery — viz. the healing by first intention. In this 
case, the wound Avas bound up in its own blood, whilst 
the instrument, which had inflicted it, was three times 
a-day carefully washed, anointed, wrapt up, and laid in 
bed. After the lapse of seven, fourteen, or twenty-one 
days, as the case might require, the bandage was 
removed, when, to the amazement of the beholders, 
the wound was found to be miraculously healed. 

I have been led into these observations on the enthu- 
siastic and visionary character of the Germans, with a 
view to explain the reason why, notwithstanding his 
numerous failures, Priessnitz has acquired the appella- 
tion of "Nature's favoured Physician," before whom 



INTRODUCTION. 



Galen, Hippocrates, and Esculapius himself dwindle into 
insignificance. It is this same enthusiasm which has 
invested him with a " superhuman sagacity" in the art 
of healing, together with the faculty of " seeing into the 
human body as if it were made of glass," whilst the 
charm of novelty has been no less productive in supply- 
ing him with patients. How far this illiterate but 
shrewd peasant of Graefenberg, merits the adulation he 
receives, will be seen by the perusal of the following 
pages. 



A TRUE REPORT 

OF 

THE "WATER CURE/' 

AS PRACTISED AT GRAEEENBERG. 



Having read Mr. Claridge's book on the " cold water cure," 
and occasionally suffering severely from gout, I considered 
myself exactly the subject to undergo the treatment. From 
the excellent treatises of Drs. Cheyne, Cadogan, and Mac- 
kenzie, on that disease, — from the writings of Vander Heyden, 
Sir John Floyer, and others, on the salutary virtues of cold 
water in the treatment of it, I was induced, on the whole, to 
form a favourable opinion ; and, being on the point of placing 
my son at Dresden, for his education, I determined to avail 
myself of the opportunity thus afforded me of proceeding 
to Graefenberg. 

With this view, I pursued my route from Dresden to 
the mountains of Silesia, and, on approaching Breslau, met 
with another Englishman, a Mr. H — , who was bound to the 
same place. This gentleman laboured under a nervous disease, 
complicated with a cutaneous affection. His ideas centered 
wholly in himself; his complaints were his constant theme of 
conversation, accompanied with much vehemence of gesture, 
a restless staring of the eyes, and contortion of the muscles 
of the face. " It appears to me, sir," said I, " that you are 
labouring under great nervous irritability.'' " Nervous irrita- 
bility!" he replied; " God bless me, sir, my medical man tells 



10 A TRUE REPORT 

me that he never in his life met with such an irritable patient." 
Truly, thought I, might he say so, unless he is practising in 
a lunatic asylum 

On ascending the hill to Graefenberg, I performed, as is 
usual, my libations at the fountain dedicated to the " Genius 
of Cold Water." We arrived about one o'clock, 18th October, 
1842, and were immediately introduced to Priessnitz ; one 
of the patients, Captain Wolff, to whom I was afterwards 
under the deepest obligations, acting as interpreter. He 
desired me to describe my case ; but, observing the extreme 
impatience of my companion, I yielded precedency to him, 
which afforded me, at the same time, an opportunity of scru- 
tinizing Priessnitz, whose eyes continually glanced towards 
me, and were restless under my gaze. The interview lasted 
only a few minutes. We were then billetted in what is 
called the " Colony," consisting of two or three cottages. 
The rooms were about nine feet square, wearing a most 
forlorn and miserable appearance. At four o'clock Priessnitz 
paid us a visit, with Frantz, the proprietor of the cottages, 
who officiated as bath-attendant and servant, accompanied 
also by a patient, who acted as interpreter. I was ordered 
to strip, and most unexpectedly enveloped in a cold wet 
sheet. He then gave some orders to Frantz, without asking 
me a single question, which, doubtless, was judged unneces- 
sary, as I had previously, in few words, given the history of 
my case. When all was over, I inquired of my travelling 
companion what Priessnitz had said to him. " Oh, the great 
man!" he replied; "he at once knew what was the matter 
with me. He put his finger upon the place, and said my 
disease was there. But none had ever found it out before." 
" Well, sir," said I, " and where is your disease, — where did 
he put his finger ?" " Oh, it's all the stomach, — I knew 
it was," he replied. This gentleman had a most voracious 
appetite, was as lean as a greyhound, and as hungry. Two 
cases could not possibly be more dissimilar than his and mine, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 11 

yet, as will hereafter be seen, the treatment of both was 
precisely the same. 

On entering the immense dining-room, soon after our 
arrival, the coup oVceil was of an exceedingly novel description. 
Four long dining-tables, occupying about two-thirds of the 
room, were filled with guests. The clatter of knives and forks, 
with every one eating greedily, and talking loudly, produced 
a most Babel-like confusion of sounds ; all which time a band 
of music was playing, and, at the upper end of the room, a 
party of four were engaged at battledoor and shuttlecock. As 
there was no master of the ceremonies, I was rather at a loss 
where to seat myself; but at last discovered a vacant place 
at the lowest end of the lowest table, amongst a party of 
Russians, Poles, and Hungarians. It greatly surprised me to 
find so large a proportion of young men; at least two-thirds 
were under thirty years of age, and many little more than 
twenty. Upon inquiring about their several complaints, 
the reply generally was either dyspepsia or hypochondriasis. 
Some days afterwards, strolling doAvn to the " douche" baths, 
I met a couple of my dyspeptic or hypochondriacal acquaint- 
ance, and, having an opportunity of seeing them unclothed, 
found they were covered with the scabs and ulcers of 
secondary syphilis. This induced me to attend regularly at 
the baths, in order to study the prevailing diseases of Graef en- 
berg, the great majority of which I found to be syphilitic. 

On the evening of my arrival, and for several days after- 
wards, I was beset by these juvenile patients, inquiring if 
I came " to make the cure," and recounting the numerous 
" miracles" that Priessnitz had performed. These gentlemen, 
as I afterwards learnt, were much in debt for board and 
lodging, and were clearing off their score by a system of 
espionage, acquainting Priessnitz with everything that was 
going on, and propagating all needful reports. Thus, for 
instance, on the day that the ill-fated Miss S. S. died, it was 
immediately reported that she had killed herself, by doing more 



12 A TRUE REPORT 

than was directed; consequently none but herself was to 
blame. Thus also, during my own severe illness, it was 
reported, that I had prescribed for myself, and that Priessnitz 
did not consider me his patient ; consequently, had I died, 
and a very little more of the " water cure" would have done 
it, the blame would in like manner have rested only on me. 
These individuals are further useful in keeping up a degree 
of enthusiasm amongst the patients, so as to make it perfect 
heresy for any one to breathe a syllable against the " water 
cure." Woe to him who does so ! — he immediately becomes 
a marked man, and is generally desired to quit the establish- 
ment. That everything is reported to Priessnitz, is so well 
known, that those, who entertain any doubts respecting his 
infallibility, must be very careful how they give utterance to 
them. Of this I received several confidential communications, 
especially from the French patients ; and the consequence is, 
that those, who receive no benefit, leave the place in silence. 

The patients seemed to be of two classes — the one animated 
with an exuberance of enthusiasm, and the other depressed 
with the gloom of despondency, yet willing to give the treat- 
ment a further trial, it being " a maxim " that " the cure is 
long, and requires much patience." 

The day after Miss S. S.'s decease, Captain Wolff invited 
me to accompany him to the house where she died. On the 
sheet being removed from her face, I was surprised at 
beholding her surpassing loveliness. She seemed to me to 
realize the beau ideal of feminine beauty. An involuntary 
tear came into my eye, which the presence of others repressed, 
and the words of Moore's melody came unbidden to my 
memory, — 

" All that's bright must fade." 

If so lovely in the sleep of death, thought I, how much more 
so must she have been when animated and beaming with in- 
telligence ! Little did I suppose, whilst contemplating this 
heart-rending picture, that in the same room I myself should 



OF THE WATER CURE. 13 

be reduced to the verge of life ! Laying on a straw pallet, 
her hair dishevelled, large boils on the palms of her hands, 
to which the wet rags were still adhering, the room scantily 
furnished, cold and comfortless, an involuntary shudder came 
over me ! Suspecting that she died a victim to the " water 
cure," I took the pains to make myself thoroughly acquainted 
with her case, and, partly with this view, went afterwards to 
lodge in the same house. 

Here I met with Herr Richaneck, one of those needy 
adventurers that frequent places of public resort. This man 
was seeking employment as a " water doctor," and assiduously 
courting the acquaintance of the English, myself among the 
rest. He pretended to be as well acquainted with the treat- 
ment as Priessnitz himself. I recommended him, however, 
to obtain from the latter a certificate of his proficiency, which, 
with some difficulty, through the intervention of one of the 
patients, he ultimately accomplished. 

This individual had been an assistant-surgeon in the Aus- 
trian service, from which, as I was informed, he was dis- 
missed. Whilst lodging in the same house with him, he read 
me a " parallel," as he termed it, between the treatment of 
syphilis with mercury, and with water, which cases he pre- 
tended had occurred in his own practice. On my inquiring 
in what doses, and in w T hat preparations, the mercury had 
been administered, unprepared for such questions, he became 
confused, and totally at a loss to answer. A physician at 
Vienna, I was afterwards informed, had written a statement 
similar to the one he produced, of which, probably, his was a 
copy. My suspicion being excited as to his knowledge of 
medicine, I inquired how he would treat the gout, or a typhus 
fever, according to the usual method. He then drew from his 
drawer a synoptical table of diseases, such as professors of the 
practice of medicine usually deliver to their pupils, and, refer- 
ring to the diseases alluded to, read their diagnostic symptoms, 
and the remedies employed, in which, however, the doses 



14 A TRUE REPORT 

were unluckily omitted. This person was a most outre 
" water doctor," and declaimed violently against medicine, or 
the " poisonous drugs ;" and such are the men generally who 
pretend to consummate skill in the use of this, their infallible 
remedy, and who, with the veterinary Weiss, the nephew of 
Priessnitz (one of the common bath-attendants at Graefen- 
berg), and a host of other Germans, inundate this country, 
and not unfrequently assume the titles of surgeons and 
graduated physicians. 

Vincent Priessnitz, aged about 42, middle size, broad chest, 
well-built, erect, enters the room with a short, light, active 
step. Marked with the small-pox, he appears older than he 
is. He has small grey eyes, deeply seated, restless, twinkling, 
searching and suspicious, so that it is unpleasant to give him 
a steady look, under which he always seems impatient. His 
forehead appears receding, which arises from a fulness of 
the frontal sinuses, and not from any deficiency of cerebral 
development. His' head is prominent at the vertex, large at 
the sides and behind the ears, where phrenologists place the 
organs of caution, secretiveness, acquisitiveness, firmness, 
and self-esteem. His manners and attitude are studied and 
constrained, from having practised the habit of compressing 
his lips, and, if standing, of planting his body in a fixed and 
firm position, especially when giving directions to his patients, 
or listening to their inquiries. His answers are always short, 
and frequently obscure. If the patients trouble him with 
much questioning as to the rationale of his treatment, or the 
nature of their complaints, they are generally dismissed with 
a bow. Never was the ipse dixit of Aristotle considered 
more conclusive than the answers of Priessnitz. Their very 
obscurity carries with it the notion of a mysterious revela- 
tion, and is by many superstitiously considered a proof of 
inspiration. The friends of the patient eagerly inquire, 
" What said he ?" and his sayings are often collected and 
treasured up, as were the scattered leaves of the Cumaean 



OF THE WATER CURE. 15 

Sybil, or the dictates of a tutelary genius. Whilst giving 
his advice, he frequently predicts events, which for the most 
part are sufficiently remote as to the cure, but more at hand 
as to the effects of the treatment. He is sometimes correct 
in the former, and, from long experience, seldom errs in 
the latter. This foretelling of events has acquired for him 
an immense reputation amongst his imaginative countrymen, 
and led to that absurd belief that "he can see into the human 
body as if it were made of glass;" and so fully are they 
persuaded of it, that the phrase is of constant recurrence, and 
in every one's mouth at Graefenberg. By this intuitive 
faculty, he affects a knowledge of not only those diseases 
w T hich already exist, but of those also which are latent, or 
have not yet manifested themselves. Thus will he prognos- 
ticate their future appearance, when called forth by the 
searching power of water. Confining himself to this remedy, 
and clothed with this mysterious power, he has acquired for 
himself the title I have mentioned, of " Nature's Inspired 
Physician," which he doe's not hesitate to assume. Of late 
he is said to have become more cautious in his predictions 
than he used to be, especially amongst the English. In 
giving his directions he seldom assigns a reason; neither 
does he inform his patients how long any part of the treat- 
ment is to be continued ; but leaves them, on this most 
important point, as well as on every other, entirely in the 
dark. Should the reluctant patient hesitate, or consult his 
acquaintance, " Priessnitz said so, therefore it must be done," 
is the immediate reply. Thus his orders are as blindly 
followed, as they are obscurely given. 

Consultations generally take place at table immediately 
after dinner, when this " Physician of Nature" is approached 
with the greatest deference and reverential awe. By some 
he is looked up to as a demi-god, and not unfrequently so 
designated ; by others, who have not received any relief from 
his treatment, he is considered as a successful impostor. 



16 A TRUE REPORT 

Whether, through the infatuation of his own countrymen, he 
has been imperceptibly led to impose upon himself, or whether 
he impudently assumes a character to which he knows he has 
not the shadow of a claim, is somewhat difficult to determine. 
Perhaps the veil of mystery is thrown over him in order to 
enhance the value of his advice ; seeing men are apt to despise 
that which is simple, however valuable, on account of its sim- 
plicity, whilst they greatly extol that which is abstruse because 
it is above their comprehension. Priessnitz may impose 
upon himself, and therefore upon others ; he may not be, 
strictly speaking, an impostor; he may believe that water 
is Nature's universal remedy, and adopt it as such. How- 
ever this may be, there is no doubt of his having performed 
many successful cures in cases which had baffled the treat- 
ment of the medical practitioners of his own country, both far 
and near, especially in diseased joints and bones, in scrofulous 
and foul ulcers, in gout, rheumatism, and other diseases. 

In a country where the medical profession is at a low ebb, 
and even the well educated people are blindly superstitious, 
such cures, performed by an illiterate peasant, with means 
apparently so inadequate, seem nothing short of miracles. 
It would require a very humble mind indeed not to be a little 
vain of its success, and a very strong head indeed not to 
become intoxicated with an adulation that amounts almost 
to idolatry. 

If Priessnitz be not an impostor, still has he recourse to 
artifice, in occasionally taking pains to conceal his practice, 
or to render it difficult to be understood. Thus, he never 
treats any two cases that are precisely similar in the same 
way, though proceeding from the same cause. For example, 
in head-ache, to one patient he orders the head to be bathed 
in cold water, to a second the feet, and to a third, the use 
of a " sitting," or hip bath. This difference of treatment 
in similar cases is referred to as an indication of his faculty of 
" seeing into the body," and beholding, as it were, the disease 



OF THE WATER CURE. 17 

itself with the greatest nicety, so as readily to discriminate the 
various shades it presents. 

Having thus apparently no determinate method in the 
application of his remedy, the superficial observer may sojourn 
long among the patients before he can learn the secret of the 
" water cure." The fact is, he pursues nearly the same routine 
with them all whatever may be their ailments, commencing 
with the more gentle applications, and gradually proceeding 
to such as are more stimulating, according to the strength of 
the individual, and the rebellious nature of the malady. 

lie considers the skin to be the principal outlet by which 
the {l bad stuff," as he terms it, constituting the disease, is to 
be expelled. Therefore, when the skin is harsh and dry, and 
the pores closed, this " bad stuff" cannot escape. The fre- 
quent application of cold water draws it to the surface, opens 
the pores, and thus facilitates the object. In other words, 
cold water, by the stimulus of reaction, causes a deter- 
mination of blood to the skin, and thus becomes a derivative ; 
by which means it greatly increases the functions of this 
important organ, and solicits the escape of any critical 
discharge which may take place. He seems not to have 
any notion, at least he does not admit it, that the applica- 
tion of cold water to the surface ever gives rise to con- 
gestion in the large vessels. Pie says it is warm water 
which produces this effect, and repels the "bad stuff;" yet 
he admits the necessity of feeling warm after the application 
of cold. 

The " bad stuff" being always disseminated throughout 
the body, it is useless to apply local remedies, without having 
first roused it from its dormant state, and driven it from its 
" hiding-holes." Drinking abundantly of cold water, per- 
spiring in a moist sheet or sweating in a blanket, followed 
immediately by the cold bath or friction with water of a 
temperate degree, in the demi-bath, j^oduce this effect, and 
set it in motion. Should these means, however, not have 

c 



18 A TRUE REPORT 

the desired effect, the " Douche" or cataract-bath is then used 
as a last resource, and is considered a never-failing remedy. 

The frequent reaction caused by cold water, greatly 
excites the system, and after a time produces a greater 
or less degree of feverishness. This feverish state, accord- 
ing to the doctrines of the humoral pathology, is the 
precursor of a crisis, and is expedient for the coction of 
the morbific matter. When this is properly concocted by 
the fever, it is said to escape by boils breaking out and 
suppurating in different parts of the body. But should these 
not appear, it is then declared to pass off in a more secret 
and unobserved manner, as by cutaneous exhalation, by the 
kidnies, or diarrhoea. From the quality of the food provided 
at Graefenberg, and the feverish excitement caused by the 
treatment, constipation pretty generally takes place : hence a 
diarrhoea, being of rare occurrence, is considered a most 
favourable "crisis." 

When boils recur frequently without affording relief, it is 
attributed to " bad blood" as well as " bad stuff," which 
latter cannot be drawn out or got rid of, until the former 
becomes changed or regenerated. It being considered impos- 
sible to recover health without some evident sign of the " bad 
stuff" making its escape, it is the custom of the patients to 
inquire, not after each other's health, not whether they 
are better, but whether the u crisis has yet appeared, how it 
maturates, and what quantity of pus is discharged." This is 
the almost constant theme of conversation. Therefore, the 
manifestation of what is called a " crisis" becomes a matter of 
great rejoicing and congratulation, giving rise to a feeling of 
confidence and expectation of a speedy convalescence. 

Boils do not make their appearance in more than about 
one -third of the patients, and should these happen to recover 
their health, the recovery, as a matter of course, is " cum 
hoc, ergo propter hoc;" the boils were the safety-valves by 
which the " bad stuff" escaped. Sometimes cutaneous erup- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 19 

tions show themselves after the fever ; at others, as in scrofu- 
lous patients, the glands become enlarged. Whether the 
" crisis" appear in the shape of boils, eruptions, or tumefied 
glands, — or whether in perspired matter and viscid exudations 
elicited by the heating bandages, staining the linen, and 
emitting a peculiar odour, — in all these cases it is either the 
" bad stuff" or the " poisonous drug," with which the system 
is impregnated, making its exit. When two or more of these 
critical discharges simultaneously occur, it is attributed to 
the " bad stuff" of different diseases, or different " poisonous 
drugs" struggling to escape at the same time. 

Such are the doctrines of Graefenberg; and notwith- 
standing the jargon made use of, there is much that is good 
to be culled from them. The recent experiments of Orfila, in 
cases of poisoning with arsenic, incontestably prove that 
mineral preparations are not only disseminated throughout 
every part of the body, but continue there located for an 
indefinite time. There can be no doubt that the same thing 
takes place in respect to those administered medicinally. 
WTiere mercury has been given, this is well known to be the 
fact. A physician at Breslau has a large collection of bones con- 
taining portions of globular mercury in their cellular tissues ; 
and there are many such collections in different parts of 
Europe. Priessnitz's theory of disease and of poisonous 
drugs, appears to have been derived from mis-treated cases 
of syphilis, in which mercurial remedies have been improperly 
administered. Two-thirds of his patients labour under this 
disease in its secondary form. The same observation is 
alike applicable to whatever we eat or drink, that does not 
go through the process of digestion and assimilation, — the 
unassimilated particles remain more or less lodged in the 
system, and prove a source of irritation and disease. 

The modus operandi of medicine is a mystery equally as 
great as that of the hydro-therapeutic means employed at 
Graefenberg. If we ask the question, ei Quare facit opium 

c 2 



20 A TRUE REPORT 

dormire ? " we must confess our ignorance, and reply with 
Moliere, " Quia est in eo virtus soporata." If disease pro- 
ceed from peccant matter introduced, or generated in the 
body, medicine must act upon it in one of two ways, either 
by expelling it from the system, or by neutralizing its effects 
through combination. Priessnitz has adopted the latter 
theory, which is the view taken by many celebrated medical 
men in respect to the action of mercury on the venereal 
virus. It is possible that both theories, to a certain extent, 
may be correct. Quinine, given in large doses to cut short 
an intermittent fever, frequently leaves behind it an indu- 
ration of the spleen or liver, of which the patient may 
ultimately die. Again, where the medicine taken combines 
with the morbific matter, it may give rise to a new train 
of symptoms, and generate a tertium quid, a something between 
the drug and the disease, as is believed to take place in 
mercurial syphilis ; and something similar to this may probably 
occur between quinine and the absorbed miasma. 

However uncouth and unscientific " bad stuff" and " poison- 
ous drugs" may appear, Priessnitz has high authority in the 
profession for his theory on this subject ; and the cures he has 
performed tend in many cases to bear him out. How far 
the other part of his theorjr may be correct, — viz. that the 
water treatment dissolves the combination between the drug 
and the morbific matter ; then expels the drug ; and after- 
Avards, when the disease has gone back to its original form, 
expels that also, — is, perhaps, somewhat doubtful. This 
notion is also taken from the treatment in use for secondary 
syphilis. I examined a case in which the ulcers in the 
throat were white, equable, round and flat, with a healthy 
appearance. This patient had been under treatment about 
nine months ; and had suffered from a mer curio -venereal 
sore throat, without ulceration, for several years. 

Maxims at Graefenberg. — The skin is the habit of the man, 
by which we are enabled to judge of the interior of the body. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 21 

When it is harsh and dry, cold or hot, hard or puckered, 
like the skin of a chicken, and of a dull colour, it indicates 
that the body is suffering from some internal disease. It is 
the main outlet for diseases, but, in the above condition, the 
" bad stuff" cannot escape, the pores being closed up and the 
vessels contracted. All diseases proceed from a vitiated state 
of the humours. At first they are local and acute, but after- 
wards become general and chronic. In no case does medicine 
expel these vitiated humours from the system, or radically cure 
a disease. The modus operandi of medicines or " poisonous 
drugs" is by enveloping the " bad stuff," or morbific particles, 
constituting the disease, so that they are in some measure 
neutralized, and, a combination being thus formed, they both 
for some time, remain dormant in the system, but ultimately give 
rise to a new disease, accompanied with a new train of symp- 
toms, intermediate between the " bad stuff" of the original 
disease and that produced by the " poisonous drug." Water 
is the only remedy for disease ; therefore, every disease that is 
curable may be cured by water. It is the most potent thing in 
nature as a penetrant, solvent, and diluent. It penetrates 
every tissue, and searches out all the " hiding-holes," of the 
combined " poisonous drug and bad stuff." It dissolves, 
dilutes and separates them, and afterwards carries them into 
the torrent of the circulation. A fever is then produced, and 
the disease, resuming its original type, becomes again local 
and acute. By the stimulating effects of cold water, friction, 
sweating, and the heating bandages, the pores of the skin 
are opened, the circulation is restored, and whatever is 
noxious to the body is derived or drawn towards the surface. 
The manner in which these noxious particles are discharged 
is called a "crisis." Each "poisonous drug," as well as the 
" bad stuff" of each disease, has its own proper "crisis." The 
" poisonous drug" is first driven out ; afterwards another 
" crisis" takes place, by which the " bad stuff" is in like 
manner expelled. When these so-called " crises" occur fre- 



22 A TRUE REPORT 

quently, without being attended with any benefit to the 
patient, it is, as before observed, attributed to the presence 
of " bad blood," that must be renovated and purified before 
the salutary " crisis " can be brought about, which is to 
effect the cure. To accomplish this desirable purpose it 
may require three or four years, or, perhaps, only as many 
months, according to the obstinacy of the disease, the age 
of the patient, and the vigour of the constitution. But 
it can only be done by rousing the vital energies and 
powerfully exciting the action of the great emunctories, 
especially the skin and the kidnies. When the vital energies 
are thus roused, and the particles of " bad stuff and poisonous 
drugs" thus separated and agitated, are set in motion, nature 
selects her own road for expelling both the one and the other. 
That nature suffers no constraint, but becomes her own phy- 
sician, is laid down as one of the principal features and the 
great excellence of the " water cure." It is this salutary 
effort of nature which constitutes the veritable " crisis," and 
operates either by an eruption of boils ; by viscid exudations 
from the skin, where the heating bandages are applied ; by 
vesicular eruption, perspiration and secretion from the kid- 
nies ; or, lastly, by diarrhoea. 

The "cure" is long, and therefore it requires much forti- 
tude, perseverance, and strength of constitution to go through 
it. To support the strength, it is necessary to eat abundantly 
of food that is light and nutritious, but in no way irritative — 
hence condiments of every description are injurious, as are 
also salted and smoked provisions. Stimulating fluids, such 
as brandy, wine, beer, &c, even down to tea and coffee, are 
all bad. All food is better taken cold and in a solid state at 
dinner, and fluids of every description should be abstained from 
for a little time before, during and after this repast. Warm 
soups, or much drink of any sort, dilute the gastric juice, 
distend and debilitate the stomach, so that the food taken, 
instead of being perfectly digested, or fit for assimilation, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 23 

becomes a constant promoter of " bad blood." In respect of 
condiments, spirituous liquors, tea, coffee, &c, they tend not 
only to engender " bad blood," for want of assimilation, but 
act also as irritants on the nervous system, and are a fertile 
source of a great variety of nervous and other diseases. 
Milk is the blandest fluid that Nature prepares for her tender 
young, therefore it is a fit nutriment for all, and, with the 
addition of rye-bread and butter, should constitute the two 
meals of breakfast and supper. Sound rye-bread is more 
wholesome than wheaten bread, the former being slightly 
aperient, whilst the latter has the opposite effect. To restore 
the equilibrium of the circulation, promote the action of the 
skin, and give additional strength, it is necessary to take a 
great deal of exercise, especially in the open air, and the more 
laborious it is the better. That which induces perspiration, 
and brings into action the great pectoral muscles, as sawing 
or chopping of wood, is considered the best. Moreover, the 
greater the difference that exists between the temperature 
of the skin and of the atmosphere, the more rapid will be 
the progress of the cure ; for which reason, in the treatment 
of long-standing diseases, winter is more favourable than 
summer. 

The different ways of applying cold water to the skin, as 
well as the quantity to be drunk, should be regulated by the 
age, sex, and constitution of the patient, laying it down as a 
general rule to begin with the more gentle forms of the re- 
medy, and thus gradually to prepare the body for such as are 
more energetic. 

Such are the leading maxims of Graefenberg, many of 
which are evidently taken from the work of Dr. Halm, of 
Schweidnitz, and those on " crisis " from the celebrated Dr. 
Stahl and the followers of the humoral pathology. Scarcely 
one can be said to be original, or to have been discovered by 
Priessnitz. In point of fact, he has neither invented nor 
discovered any portion of the theory or practice of the water 



24 A TRUE REPORT 

treatment ; — lie has been mainly indebted to Halm for both, 
and can only lay claim to the terms " bad stuff" and " poison- 
ous drugs" as peculiarly his own. 

His asserting that it requires a great deal of strength to 
go through the entire process, and therefore recommending 
his patients to eat abundantly, shows that he is sensible of 
its debilitating and exhausting effects when long continued, 
notwithstanding he does not in words admit that such is the 
case. How can it be otherwise when carried to the danger- 
ous extreme it is at Graefenberg ? This is tacitly implied also 
by the more experienced of the patients, who say that it is 
quite sufficient after the first month to do only half what 
Priessnitz requires; whilst, on the other hand, a relaxed 
observance of his orders furnishes a plausible excuse for 
any mishap that may occur. 

For nearly all these maxims as well as for the following 
account of the various ways of using cold water as a remedy 
for disease, I am much indebted to my friend Captain 
Wolff, whose indefatigable zeal in continually questioning 
Priessnitz himself, and making inquiries amongst the 
patients, enabled him to collect from these original sources 
a great mass of information. Possessed of an inqui- 
sitive mind, of much general knowledge, and himself suffer- 
ing from disease, he was fully qualified for the task, and 
evinced considerable tact in its pursuit. The information 
I thus obtained may be relied on as correct — in fact it 
carries with it its own internal evidence. 



PRACTICE AT GRAEFENBERG. 

" Abreibungen" — rubbing the Body with a Sheet dripping 
tcet. — This mode of applying cold water to the skin is more 
or less used by Priessnitz in almost every instance, and is 
considered of especial service in cases of nervous debility and 
weak constitution. It is more soothing than the friction with 



OF THE WATER CURE. 25 

cold water in the half-bath, which sometimes causes irritation. 
It admits of frequent repetition, and is of great use when the 
body is hot and feverish. When there is a determination of 
blood to the head, the head and face are to be washed with 
cold water previous to the application of the wet sheet. 
When the debility is so great that reaction does not take 
place, — that is, when the patient does not feel a warm glow 
immediately afterwards, but remains cold and shivering, — 
he is to be put to bed for half an hour, and well covered 
up ; then, when thoroughly warmed, he must get up and have 
it immediately repeated ; and then dress quickly and take a 
good walk, whatever may be the state of the weather, and 
during the walk drink several glasses of cold water. A glass 
of water must also be drunk either immediately before, during, 
or after its application, according to the inclination of the 
patient. Six of these applications may be used in the course 
of the day, even to the most feeble constitution, washing 
the face and head as before mentioned. This remedy is 
also recommended for such as do not become warm whilst 
enveloped in the moist, or humid sheet. It may, moreover, 
be used immediately after dinner, and with much advantage 
when the body is covered with perspiration from exercise. 
After it is thus freed from perspiration, and a reaction has 
taken place, the patient may be placed in the " leintuch" or 
moist sheet, should the case require it. But if the patient 
perspire greatly from debility, or any such cause, either during 
the day or night, these perspirations should always be arrested, 
not by the "leintuch" or moist sheet, but by the " abreibungen" 
or friction with a wet one. 

" Nasse Leintuchen" — the Moist, or Humid, Sheet. — This 
remedy is applied in the following manner. A sheet is 
dipped into cold water and wrung out, generally across a 
pole, until the water will no longer drip from it. A blanket 
is then spread upon a palliasse, or hair mattrass, and the 



26 A TRUE REPORT 

sheet placed upon it. Upon this the patient lies down 
on his back, when it is loosely folded round him. The 
blanket is then drawn over on one side and well tucked in, 
making a plait, or fold, about the hips, so that it may lie 
closely; afterwards it is drawn over on the other side as 
tight as possible, and very carefully tucked in, especially 
about the neck and shoulders, so that no steam or vapour can 
escape. The legs are then raised, and the bath-man turns the 
end of the blanket under the feet. A light down bed is 
placed above, with a coverlet or couple of sheets over it, and 
the whole is well secured. 

This mode of applying cold water to the surface of the body 
is resorted to, as well as the preceding one, in almost every 
case, preparatory to the sweating process, the plunging bath, 
and the " douche" bath. It is said to be of great efficacy 
when the skin does not perform its functions from being 
either harsh and dry, or dry and cold, or dry and hot as in 
fever. In the latter case it may be repeated twenty times 
during the day, until the skin is cooled and perspiration 
ensues. In such instances, when the patient becomes 
quickly hot again, the sheet should be changed for another, 
in which he may remain half an hour, or longer, until again 
hot, or until perspiration is induced. After the application 
of this remedy, should the patient be sufficiently strong, 
friction with water, either cold or at the temperature of 
50° or 60° Fahrenheit, may be used. But when there 
is much debility, friction with the wet sheet, as before 
observed, must be had recourse to, instead of the half-bath. 
The moist sheet may be used for an hour, three times a day, 
and, when the patient can bear it, this may be followed by 
the cold-bath. 

To strengthen or brace the system, the moist sheet may be 
used only for a short time, merely until the patient becomes 
warm, when it should be changed for another, which may be 
repeated three or four times in the space of an hour. But, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 27 

to draw the " bad stuff " out of the body, the patient should 
stay in it a full hour. In some particular cases he may 
remain for a longer time, but then the sheet should be changed 
at the expiration of an hour. 

" Kotzen-Schweitzen" — Sweating in a Blanket . — In this 
process the blanket is applied to the patient precisely in the 
same manner as when it is used with the humid sheet, being 
tightly folded around him, especially about the neck and 
shoulders. When the constitution is robust and the " crises" 
are tardy in making their appearance, the patient undergoes 
this treatment ; and, after having perspired from half an hour 
to two hours, according to circumstances, he either plunges 
into the cold-bath, having previously washed his face and 
breast, and remains in it until he experiences a sensation of 
cold or slight shivering; or else he is well rubbed in the 
demi-bath, with cold water or with that which has the 
chill taken off, until a glow is produced on the skin. In 
either case, he is to drink a glass of cold water immediately 
afterwards, dress speedily, and take a walk, repeating his 
draught during the walk as often as he may find it con- 
venient. The more general rule is not to drink before the 
reaction has taken place, and the circulation fully esta- 
blished. After having drunk one glassful of water, a second 
ought not to be taken if the first remain cold or heavy upon 
the stomach ; neither should the patient drink it if he feel 
chilly. 

" Umshlag? — Wet Bandages. — These are of two descrip- 
tions; the one heating, so as to produce the effects of a 
warm fomentation, and the other a cooling bandage. The 
first consists of a linen cloth merely moistened with cold 
water, which, when thoroughly wrung out, is closely folded 
either round the part affected, or where it is desired to produce 
cuticular irritation and a metastasis of the disease. This wet 



28 A TRUE REPORT 

bandage is to be well covered with a dry one, and kept 
constantly applied to the part, and renewed three or four 
times a clay, or as often as it becomes either dry or dis- 
agreeably hot. The second, or cooling bandage, is merely 
a wet cloth, almost dripping, loosely thrown over the diseased 
part, without any dry covering, so that evaporation may 
freely take place. This is applied to all external injuries. 
A cut, or a wound, should be first bound up with a dry rag, 
and then the evaporating process used over it, as recom- 
mended by Vander Hey den in cases of broken shin ; but, 
if the wound be extensive or the inflammation intense, then 
a part at some distance from the wound should be bathed 
with cold water ; as, for example, in an extensive cut of the 
hand, the elbow should frequently be bathed, and not the 
hand. A burn is treated in the same manner. When the 
inflammation has disappeared, the bandage is not to be re- 
moved, but, from time to time, moistened when dry, and 
continued until there is reason to believe that the wound 
is perfectly healed. 

When a " crisis" appears, the heating bandage is con- 
stantly kept to the part or parts affected. This will provoke 
it, and draw a greater abundance of humours to the place. 
In all cases where pain exists, an " umshlag? or heating 
bandage, should be had recourse to, which will either produce 
a " crisis," or soothe the pain without one. This remedy forms 
a most important part of the " water treatment." 

Halb-bad, — Friction with water in the half-bath. — This 
operation is performed on the patient whilst seated in an 
oblong tub, containing from eight to fourteen inches depth 
of water, generally about 55° or 60° Fahrenheit. The mode 
of application is, by taking water into the palms of the 
hands, pouring it on the different parts of the body, and 
rubbing them at the same time. In this, the patient 
is required to assist, to rub his stomach, legs and arms, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 29 

whilst the attendant strenuously operates in the same way 
on his back and sides, and especially on any part that is 
particularly affected. Water is first poured on the head 
and face, and repeated from time to time. This bath is 
much in use, forming a portion of the preliminary treat- 
ment of nearly every disease. It is sometimes continued 
only for two or three minutes, merely to wash and refresh 
the body ; at others, it varies from that to half an hour, or 
even a longer period, care being taken that sufficient friction 
be used to produce reaction, so that the patient may expe- 
rience a sensation of warmth. This remedy is applied after 
the moist sheet, and frequently after sweating in a blanket ; 
and is considered very effective in opening the pores and 
bringing out the " bad stuff." 

JSitz-bad, — Hip-bath. — This bath is formed of a small round 
tub with a high back, just large enough to receive the patient 
in a sitting posture. The water is generally used cold, 
a dry sheet being thrown over the head and round "the 
shoulders in lieu of a cloak. This remedy is also in frequent 
use, and is followed by friction with the wet sheet. It is 
usually taken at 11 o'clock, and often repeated in the even- 
ing ; and is considered powerfully derivative, drawing down 
the "bad stuff," and therefore ordered in head-ache, dys- 
pepsia, nervous irritability, " high-seated hemorrhoids," and 
almost every other case. The patient commonly remains 
in it for ten minutes, rubbing his stomach the whole time 
with the water. 

The " Douche" or Cataract-Bath. — This bath is constructed 
on the declivity of a hill, and is supplied from a natural cur- 
rent of water so directed as to pass along some wooden 
troughs supported on stays to give them the required 
elevation. These troughs are contracted toward their ex- 
tremities, so that the water may fall on the patient in a round, 



30 A TRUE REPORT 

compact stream, from a height of ten or twenty feet. The 
stream varies in thickness from the size of the wrist to that 
of the arm, and descends with considerable weight and 
force. This remedy is said to fortify and greatly excite 
the system, and is considered at Graefenberg most effective 
in expelling the " bad stuff," or those latent diseases 
which exist in the body. At first it is ordered to be 
taken for one minute, which, in summer, is gradually in- 
creased to five or six, according to the constitution of the 
patient; but, in winter, it is never used longer than from 
three to four minutes, more generally from one to two. 
When the " douche" consists of snow-water it is applied 
only on the diseased parts; but, if there be considerable 
pain, in a part suffering from acute rheumatism, or from 
a " crisis," it is not used at all. When the pain is chronic, 
or of long standing, and the disease obstinate, this bath 
should be taken from ten to thirty minutes, but only on 
the part affected, in order to increase the circulation, excite 
the action of the capillary vessels, induce a " crisis," and 
thus expel the disease. 

The " douche " is never allowed to fall on the head. On 
first entering the bath, the hands are held up to break the 
stream of water, and thus form it into a shower-bath. 
Neither is the stream suffered to fall perpendicularly on 
the stomach or abdomen, as in that case it would be apt to 
excite vomiting, besides producing other bad effects. After 
the "douche" the patient is thoroughly rubbed with a dry 
sheet, and directed to take brisk exercise in the open 
air, so that the reaction may completely take place, and the 
circulation be fully restored. A glassful of cold water 
is drunk both before and after this bath. 

This remedy is considered a " dernier resort," to draw out 
old complaints, and to re-establish the circulation, especially 
in such parts as have become benumbed or paralytic. It is 
never administered at the commencement of the "cure;" and, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 31 

when there is much irritation, head-ache, or other ailment, as 
during the catamenia, it is suspended. 

Wannen-bad, — Plunging -bath. — This bath is constructed 
of a large circular vat or tub, from five to fifteen feet in 
diameter, and is supplied with a constant stream of running 
water of the natural temperature, which stands at about four 
or five feet deep. It is placed in a shed or outhouse, and 
furnished with steps and a rail to assist in getting out, and 
is taken after sweating in the blanket. The patient is 
ordered to dash some of the water on his head and breast 
previously to getting into it, or, which is preferable, to 
plunge in headlong; and, whilst in, he should put every 
muscle into action, rubbing himself and moving about. The 
time for remaining in, is from one to five minutes, according 
to his sensations ; that is, he should immediately get out on 
experiencing the first indication of a shiver. He is then 
rubbed down with a dry sheet and speedily returns to his 
rooms, when the bath- attendant ao'ain rubs him down. He 
then dresses and takes a long walk, occasionally drinking a 
tumbler of cold water ; and afterwards returns to breakfast. 

Crisis. — This portion of the "water cure" is deserving of 
most particular attention, inasmuch as its success is said to 
entirely depend on bringing about this salutary effort of 
nature, by which the morbific matter, the causa morbi, is to 
be got rid of. To excite the system proportionally to the 
constitution of the individual and the nature of the malady, 
so as to produce the " crisis," — to moderate its action when 
too violent, and to keep it up for a sufficient length of time, 
— require great skill and experience on the part of the 
" water- doctor;" whilst the means employed are the heating 
bandage, the moist sheet, the blanket and the douche-bath, 
with the drinking of an abundance of cold water. 

When the " crisis " has appeared, in order not to pro- 



32 A TRUE REPORT 

voke too great irritation, on the one side, or to repel anc 
arrest it in its progress, on the other, cold water is seldom 
used in the form of a bath, but the extreme chill is taken off, 
so as to make it about 50 p or 60° Fahrenheit. When the 
" crisis," however, does not proceed freely and favourably, a 
hip-bath of cold water, or the " douche," is used, in order to 
rouse the system, and produce a higher degree of excitement, 
and this is continued for a longer or shorter period as circum- 
stances may require. Sweating in a blanket accelerates the 
" coction," or maturation of the " crisis," by whatever means 
it may have been produced; and, at the same time, moderates 
the violence of the local action, by causing a considerable 
portion of the peccant humours, or "bad stuff," to exude 
by the skin, instead of being attracted towards the par- 
ticular part where the " crisis " is situated. Further, in 
order to promote this "coction" of the humours, the part is 
frequently bathed in temperate water, Should it be desir- 
able to remove the "crisis" from one part to another, bathing 
with warm water is said to repel it into the system, to come 
forth elsewhere. If accompanied with much itching and irri- 
tation, the heating bandage is frequently renewed, the water 
being eachtime thoroughly wrung out, as otherwise it might 
cause it altogether to disappear. This will soothe and allay 
the irritation. It may also be observed, that the bandage is 
not to be continued after the "crisis" is past, unless it be 
desired to bring it back, in which case, in addition to the 
bandage, the part is to be washed, and well rubbed with cold 
water several times a-day. Such are the different modes of 
application, and the rules of practice, adopted at Graefenberg. 
Priessnitz never feels the pulse, nor examines the tongue, 
but judges of the condition of the body by the skin, which, 
as I have said, he calls "the habit of the man." When it 
is harsh, dry, cold, and puckered, he considers that the 
" cure" will be long and difficult, especially if this be accom- 
panied with much heat in the axilla. With this condition 



OF THE WATER CURE. 33 

of the skin the digestion is imperfect, the appetite deficient, 
the bowels constipated, the feet cold, and the nights restless, 
indicating great derangement and chronic inflammation of 
some of the chylopoietic viscera. It is a bad sign, he says, 
when the patient cannot eat or sleep. The expression of 
the eye and countenance, the state of the body, the colour of 
the skin, the length of time since the attack of the disease, 
and the temperament of the individual, — all assist him in 
forming an opinion of the character, intensity, and pro- 
bable duration of the disease. It is clear, I think, that 
these prognostic appearances have been taken from his obser- 
vations on cattle, which, when suffering from internal inflam- 
mation, have the skin pretty much in the condition here 
mentioned, from the spasm with which it is attended. It 
becomes rough and corrugated, hard, contracted, and firmly 
attached to the subjacent muscles, with the hair standing 
out or sticky. The animal in this plight is said to be hide- 
bound, when its eye is dull, its head drooping, and the whole 
expression heavy and dejected. 

When the patient comes from out his first bath, or after 
the first application of the wet sheet, on being rubbed dry, 
Priessnitz carefully observes the reaction, and passes his 
fingers over different parts of the skin and arm-pits, watching, 
at the same time, the change of countenance. Having then 
made a few inquiries, he gives his directions, which, as before 
observed, are similar in almost all cases. He is never inqui- 
sitive afterwards about the progress of the " cure," and when 
consulted, his replies are very concise. The stomach is gene- 
rally deemed in fault, to which the wet bandage is in most 
instances applied : and drinking more or less of cold water, 
from seven or eight to twenty or thirty, and even forty tum- 
blers a-day, and walking constantly in the open air, are 
seldom omitted. All are recommended to eat heartily, 
as the " cure " requires a great deal of nourishment, and 
water will digest anything, which, if we may judge from 

D 



34 A TRUE REPORT 

the quality of the food at Graefenberg, appears to be pretty 
true. 

Whatever may be the directions given, they are always 
such as to occupy the whole of the day. Commencing in 
summer at four in the morning, repeating the remedies at 
eleven in the forenoon, and again at four or six in the afternoon, 
the patient may employ the intervening time in walking, 
and drinking of cold water. The operations are, in every case, 
carried to an extreme and irksome length. Hence, many of the 
older patients say, that it is quite sufficient to follow one-half 
of the advice given ; and hence Priessnitz declares that not one- 
fourth of his patients do as they are bid, or they would get 
well much more speedily. For the first three or four months 
they are generally obedient, but afterwards begin to relax. 
Nor is this surprising. Although resolved to persevere with 
the treatment, they become wearied with constantly dressing, 
undressing, and dabbling in cold water. It is by no means 
agreeable to be roused from a comfortable sleep in the depth 
of winter, morning after morning, by candle-light, to be 
enveloped in a piercing cold moist sheet, and afterwards 
rubbed in a tub of cold water until nearly every particle of 
warmth is abstracted from the body ; and then to repeat this 
in the afternoon, or to alternate it with a sweat in a blanket 
for two or three tedious hours ; — well may it be said, there- 
fore, that the " water cure " requires much enduring fortitude 
and strength of constitution, both to overcome the repugnance 
naturally felt, and to resist the congestion likely to ensue. 

On the side of the hill at Graefenberg, some Hungarians, 
who were cured of mercurial syphilis, have erected " a lion" 
in honour of Priessnitz. On inquiring into the meaning of 
this from a retailer of witticisms, his reply was, that there 
ought to have been a hog and a bull in company with the 
lion to render the allegory complete: it would then have 
signified that to go through the " water cure" at Graefenberg 
requires the oourage of the lion, the strength of the bull, and 



OF THE WATER CURE. 35 

the stomach of the hog. In every instance of death, which 
was brought under my notice, I ascertained that it proceeded 
from congestion, and not from disease— a sufficient proof 
that the treatment is sometimes carried beyond the endurance 
of life. This I assert fearless of contradiction, and the most 
enthusiastic admirers of Priessnitz cannot disprove the fact, 
however much they may attempt to disguise it. 

There is no doubt that the water treatment admits of great 
modification and improvement. It might, in the majority of 
cases, be most advantageously combined with medicine, espe- 
cially with the watery infusions and decoctions. The vapour- 
bath might also, with much benefit and convenience to the 
patients, be substituted for the sweating-blanket, a wearisome 
and disagreeable operation. In rheumatism, a stream of vapour 
might be directed to the parts affected, as practised with so 
much success in the Russian vapour-baths at Hamburgh. 
Topical bleeding, as with leeches or cupping, might occa- 
sionally be had recourse to, according to the excellent practice 
of old Vander Heyden ; traction, also, or dry cupping, a system 
lately revived by Mr. Cronin. But, in every case, the course 
of treatment ought to be regulated by the constitution of the 
patient, so as to allow nature some repose. There are various 
other suggestions that will necessarily present themselves to a 
sensible and well-educated medical man. If, however, in the 
hands of an ignorant and presuming peasant, the revival of 
this old method of treating diseases, has been found to effect 
so much, far greater results might be expected from it under 
more auspicious circumstances. Almost all those, who at present 
practise it, appear to be as ignorant of the fatal effects of cold 
as Priessnitz himself. Whilst they deny the doctrines of 
Homoeopathy, properly attributing its cures to the influence 
of the imagination and the strict regimen observed, they seem 
to forget that the same influence and regimen contribute 
largely to the "cure" under the water treatment; perhaps, in 
many cases, more than the treatment itself. 

d 2 



36 A TRUE REPORT 

That it is efficacious in all diseases is utterly untrue. The 
same observation applies equally to medicine. Some are cured 
by it, others obtain relief, others again become worse, and to a 
few it is fatal. In the two latter instances, there can be little 
doubt that the treatment is carried to too great an extent. 
Whatever may be the merits or the demerits of the " water 
treatment," it will soon have a fair trial in this country, and 
the j)ublic will then be able to judge both of the one and the 
other. Those, who are desirous of experiencing it, will do 
well to seek out some establishment near at home rather than 
undertake a long journey and submit to all the privations and 
inconveniences of Graefenberg. 

Patients, who have been cured or relieved by it, should 
cautiously avoid their former mode of living, or a relapse will 
be the almost certain result. That it possesses great efficacy, 
and that it is powerful in its operation, is fully proved by 
the writings of Yander Heyden, Floyer and Baynard, Smith, 
Hancock, the Hahns, of Schweidnitz and Breslau, Wright and 
Currie, as well as by the practice of Father Bernardo, and 
the works of several Italian physicians. 

Priessnitz treats the greater portion of his patients with 
the most perfect indifference. No notes of the cases are 
recorded, and, after the first visit, no questions are asked; 
the patient may remain at Graefenberg for years, with very 
little, if any, notice being taken of him. It is not considered 
necessary to do so, as his Doctor is always present to be 
consulted. This very indifference contributes towards his 
spurious reputation. One of his enthusiastic admirers in- 
formed me, that he entertained a great contempt of the gene- 
rality of mankind, and compared him in this respect to 
Napoleon, and some other great men. This contempt is 
perhaps very sincere, considering the specimens by which 
he is surrounded. The late Professor Bust, of Berlin, having 
visited Graefenberg, to ascertain the efficacy of the water 
treatment, observed that the people he met with there were 



OF THE WATER CURE. 37 

an assembly of fools, amongst whom he could discover only 
two sensible men, himself and Priessnitz. It is an under- 
stood thing that he is never to be needlessly consulted. 
When, however, these tacit regulations are infringed, he 
betrays much impatience, gives a short answer, and dismisses 
the intruder with a bow. On this account his patients are in 
the daily habit of consulting one another. It is surprising how 
soon they seem to acquire a perfect knowledge of the " water 
cure," and how prompt they are at giving their advice, even 
unsolicited. Thus, in a short time, they aU seem to become 
" water doctors," while Priessnitz himself presides as the 
tutelary genius of the place, only to be resorted to, like the 
Delphic Oracle, upon grand and solemn occasions. 

Thus enveloped in the rays of his own genius, he is consi- 
dered perfectly justified in maintaining the respect due to his 
"supernatural talents." When I spoke of his want of common 
courtesy and attention, the reply was — that he could not 
possibly make daily inquiries after the health of all his patients 
— that he remained five minutes at table every day after 
dinner, and as long after supper, to give advice, which surely 
was as much as could be reasonably expected. Besides, if it 
were otherwise, his advice would become so hacknied as to 
be no longer valued. " How could he," said my acquaint- 
ance, " repeat the question of ' How do you do ? ' five hundred 
times a-day, listen to the reply, and give his direction?" 
There, in short, he is, almost as sparing of his advice as the 
lady was of her charity, who, not being able to give a penny 
to every beggar, never gave a penny at all. 

Be it observed, however, that notwithstanding such is his 
conduct towards his ordinary boarders at Graefenberg, and 
towards those who only pay the expected fee of two florins 
per week for his advice, and perhaps not even that in full, 
still is he by no means deficient in attention to his more 
wealthy patients, visiting them every other day, or oftener, 
should they require it. Nevertheless, whatever may be his 



38 A TRUE REPORT 

assiduity towards these patients, it does not appear that he 
follows the advice of an old medical author, who, treating on 
the virtues of medicines composed of pounded pearls, the 
bezoar, and other precious stones, sagely remarks, that to the 
rich a double dose may be administered, because they can 
afford to pay for such costly remedies, — the reason is, perhaps, 
that water may be had everywhere, mli pretio. 

Surrounded by the halo of superstition, from his supposed 
faculty of " seeing into the human body, as if it were made of 
glass," he enjoys a truly catholic reputation for infallibility ; 
and such is the blind and enthusiastic confidence this surpris- 
ing faculty inspires, that a patient "admitted to the cure" 
considers himself at once as good as cured. " Are you 
admitted to the cure ? " is the question asked upon the arrival 
of every new comer. On being replied to in the affirmative, 
a congratulation immediately follows, equalled only by that 
which is called forth by the suppuration of the boils, when 
the " crisis" has made its appearance. The patient has then 
only to follow the injunctions of Priessnitz, having nothing 
further to do with the disease, or the disease with him, for 
it is already accepted as an offering at the shrine of the 
" Genius of Cold Water." 

Being thus admitted to the cure, of itself so important 
a privilege — should the patient not recover his health it must 
be his own fault ; and should he die, it cannot be helped. 
He has not strictly adhered to the injunctions delivered to 
him. He has either done too much, or he has done too little, 
the more usual fault. The water for the bath was too cold, 
or not sufficiently cold. In short, something was amiss. 
Every, even the most trivial circumstance assumes an import- 
ance unperceived by vulgar eyes, which cannot pierce into 
the body and behold its disease. For these faults of commis- 
sion and omission Priessnitz is not held accountable. The 
slighter the error the greater his discernment in detecting it, 
and he is praised accordingly. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 39 

Few die at Graefenberg, for none,* who appear to have 
a tendency that way, are admitted to the cure. Priessnitz 
allows that one-eighth of the applicants are rejected, but the 
number is about a fifth. He tells these persons that the 
"water cure" was not made for them; and then bluntly 
dismisses them, saying, it is as well to part at first as at last, 
since it must come to that. Without a ray of hope, the 
suffering, dejected and rejected pilgrim at this shrine of health 
has to retrace his long and weary way, with the image of 
death staring him full in the face. Many of these, unwilling 
to abandon every hope, placed themselves under the care of 
the veterinary Weiss, who carried out the sweating system 
to a much greater extent than Priessnitz, by which some were 
benefited and some cured. They afterwards became pretty 
generally distributed amongst the other universal-remedy 
establishments with which Germany abounds ; such, for 
example, as the Hunger and Thirst Establishment, the Iodine 
Bath and Yapour Establishment, or some Homoeopathic 
Institution. 

Those who have not so immediate a tendency to death are 
sometimes, by much entreaty, allowed, as a great favour, to 
try a little of the " cure," on their own responsibility. Upon 
the whole, this is judicious. Frequent deaths would destroy 
the reputation of the establishment, therefore such as are 
dangerously ill, or labour under debility, are wisely sent 
away; for, as he truly, though uncouthly tells them, they 
have not sufficient strength to undergo the treatment. It is 
clear that, if there be not sufficient strength or vigour left in 
the system to produce the necessary re-action, congestion, 
accompanied with the worst consequences, must ensue. 

Moreover, if, after three or four months, the treatment is 
found not to agree with those who have been admitted, or 
should they become so much worse that apprehensions are 
entertained as to the result, the operations are instantly 
suspended, and they are recommended, or rather ordered, 



40 A TRUE REPORT 

to go home until they have regained sufficient strength, when 
they may return and undergo the remainder of the " cure." 
Generally, the patient withdraws of his own accord before 
death closes the scene. Sometimes, an open rupture takes 
place, as in the instance of Dr. Bulard de Meri, always on 
pretence that the prescribed rules have not been punctually 
observed, which leads to an unceremonious dismissal. 

The above reasons, inasmuch as there are scarcely any 
acute diseases at Graefenberg, sufficiently explain why deaths 
are not more frequently occurring than they are, notwith- 
standing the churchyard of Friewaldau is not without the 
tombstones of those whom this remedy misapplied has sent 
thither. 

I do not make these remarks with any view to depreciate 
the sanatory virtues of cold water, of which, on the whole, 
I entertain rather a good opinion, but merely to report the 
'practice of Graefenberg, — to show that it is not without its 
charlatanism, which, perhaps, to a certain extent, is not to be 
wondered at. Where is the physician who never lost a 
patient, either through the incurable nature of the disease or 
from a mistaken mode of treatment ? It is an old saying, that 
a physician knows not his profession until he has thrice filled 
a church -yard; and one case of failure often affords more 
valuable information than twenty of success — it becomes a 
guide to our future course. 

Priessnitz frankly tells his patients that the " cure " is long, 
extending to three or four years. Many of the patients 
leave in the second year, believing themselves better; others, 
who have derived no benefit, leave also, endurance being 
quite exhausted. In these cases, the want of success is of 
course attributed to want of patience and of perseverance. 

Cold weather is said to be more favourable to the cure of 
disease, especially rheumatism, than warm weather — an argu- 
ment that is quite necessary to keep up a sufficient warmth 
of enthusiasm when the severity of winter begins to be felt. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 41 

At this season they are, or fancy they are, a vast deal better, 
and leave in great numbers the cheerless abode of Graefen- 
berg, with the laudable intention of pursuing the " cure" 
more comfortably at home. In vain Priessnitz endeavours 
to prevail on them to brave the keen mountain -blast in this 
wilderness of snow, with the assurance that spring will see 
them restored to perfect health. Away they go, like swallows. 
It is melancholy then to behold the immense dining-room 
and its four deserted tables, each capable of accommodating 
a hundred guests ; the half of one is now amply sufficient. 
There sit the courageous few, shivering with cold, looking 
blue and wo-be^one, and seeming as if about to sacrifice 
themselves, not on the burning funeral pile, but at the shrine 
of ice and cold water ; whilst, to compare small things with 
great, Priessnitz views them, as Napoleon did the remains 
of his army amidst the snows of Russia, deploring the loss 
of their companions. Very few try a second winter, or if so, 
they generally move down to warmer quarters at Friewaldau, 
a town abounding with filth and mud, with here and there a 
stepping-stone to enable the foot-passenger to pick his way. 

Priessnitz is never at a loss for an explanation. A vesicular 
eruption having disappeared in a lady without any assignable 
reason, he said it was occasioned by her linen and sheets 
having been washed with soap which had repelled the 
" crisis." Some time back a girl, eleven years old, took the 
measles and was cured in eight days. This was said to be a 
most surprising "miracle."* 

The society of Graefenberg is, as might be expected, of a very 
motley description — from the German prince down to the 
artisan, with a copious sprinkling of counts and barons. 
Their manners are best studied at the dinner-table. The 



* The medical reader does not require to be told that, in the latter case, eight 
days is the natural duration of the disease, and, in the former, the eruption, 
which, in all probability, was produced by an excess of sweating, would be 
likely to disappear as suddenly as it appeared. 



42 A TRUE REPORT 

conventional decorum of the English is, in every respect, 
set at utter defiance. There, they may be seen picking their 
teeth and cleansing their nails with the sharp-pointed dinner- 
knife, before, during, and after the repast. Their conversa- 
tion is carried on in a noisy tone, as if quarrelling and in a 
perpetual passion, more resembling the talk of a tap-room 
than that of gentlemen. The meat is cut into small 
lumps before being placed on the table; and the better 
to judge of its quality, it is not unusual to see them smelling 
the dish, turning over and scrutinizing the various pieces, 
sticking their forks first into one and then into another, in 
order to select the least objectionable morsels. Sometimes, 
after having cut off* a mouthful and tried it, the rejected 
piece is returned to the dish and another taken in its stead. 
And such is the contagion of example that the English- 
man I picked up on the road contracted these disgusting 
habits. Advised to eat plentifully and determined to have 
their full share of the provisions, many may be seen with a 
couple of plates of meat piled up before them at the same 
time — one of tough, stringy cow-beef, called " bouille" and 
another of baked meat, or " rotie" — the whole of which is 
greedily devoured. Every Sunday there is a ball. They are 
universally good dancers, and the politeness of their manners 
very much resembles that of a dancing-master. A number 
of set phrases, accompanied with sundry scrapes and bows, 
serve on all occasions. On further acquaintance, however, 
these manners are laid aside for an unpleasant degree of 
familiarity. There are a few exceptions, principally amongst 
the Austrian and Prussian officers, but the description is cor- 
rect as respects the majority, and their manners in private, I 
was informed, are still more disgustingly swinish. 

The food at Graefenberg is abundant, but of the worst and 
coarsest quality, such as would be scarcely tolerated in our 
workhouses. Sour rye-bread with carroway-seeds ; cow-beef, 
frequently without a particle of fat, and generally served up 



OF THE WATER CURE. 43 

with salted cucumbers and some description of sour sauce ; 
twice a week there are shapeless dumplings, made of the 
scraps of bread which have been left at table and then 
soaked in the skimmings of the pot-liquor, and squeezed into 
lumps. Once I detected a very fishy taste in the " bouille" 
and finding it the same the next day, I inquired the reason. 
It appeared that the sauce had been prepared with rancid 
Dutch herrings, a favourite condiment amongst the Germans. 
Beef, apple pancakes, hasty-pudding, or baked puddings, 
generally compose the dinner. On alternate days, there is 
the addition of the " rolie? which is usually baked veal, 
young, lean, and flabby, partly burnt and partly stewed. 
This, as is customary in Germany, is served up with some 
sort of stewed fruit, as apples, pears, or plums. On these 
days the pastry, as it is called, is omitted. The breakfast 
consists of bread, milk, butter-milk, and butter. In summer 
there is the addition of wood-strawberries, which are to be 
purchased cheap. The supper is the same as the breakfast, 
with the addition of small potatoes, with their jackets on, 
cracked and watery, as they are commonly boiled for pigs. 
Such is the fare of Graefenberg, and well, indeed, may it be 
said to require the stomach of a pig to digest it, and that 
water is a powerful solvent. 

During a portion of my stay, we were treated on Sundays 
with baked geese for the " rotie" lean, hard, and tough. A 
large quantity of them was kept in a muddy inclosure with 
the appendage of a pond. They looked very miserable, dirty, 
wet, cold, and half-starved, frequently sparing the cook the 
trouble of killing them. Madame Priessnitz, who invariably 
superintends the kitchen and is an excellent housewife, was 
much applauded for her domestic economy in having the 
feathers made into coverlets and sold to the patients. 

Numerous complaints have been made respecting the diet. 
I was informed that during the summer the meat was fre- 
quently tainted, and sometimes sent away as not to be endured 



44 A TRUE REPORT 

even by a German stomach. These complaints, however, 
are made in vain, for patients flock in, and discontent is dis- 
regarded. The price of the dinner is thirty-eight kreutzen 
a head, the same as at the best "table d'hote" in Austria; a 
better one may be obtained at Freiwaldau for twenty. 

Priessnitz is said to have realized a million of florins, 
100,000/. At Johannisberg, about five German miles distant 
from Graefenberg, he has purchased an estate for 100,000 florins. 
Upon this property there is a brewery, to which he has added 
a brandy distillery. When reproached with the inconsistency 
of being a brewer, a distiller, and at the same time a pre- 
scriber of cold water, his reply was, that it mattered not 
what a person in health ate or drank. His wife and himself, 
as I was informed, are in the habit of partaking of both wine 
and liqueurs ; perhaps this may not be true. Much of his 
time is occupied, however, in looking after the brewery and 
distillery, and, it is reported that he wishes to retire from the 
water establishment could he meet with a suitable successor 
and retain a good portion of the profits. 

Dr. Behrend, of Berlin, declares that Priessnitz told him 
the water cure was his own discovery. Having been seized 
with a fever, when there was no medical man in his neigh- 
bourhood, he directed cold water to be pumped upon himself 
to allay the burning heat, and afterwards went to bed, well 
wrapped up in a blanket. A profuse perspiration broke out, 
and he was cured of the fever. His father's cow falling ill, 
he treated her in the same way and cured her also. He then 
tried the method on some of his neighbours with equal suc- 
cess. The report of these cures gradually spreading to the 
Prussian frontier, numerous invalids came to consult him. 

Whilst at Freiwaldau, I made some inquiries respecting 
Priessnitz's claim to the invention of the "water cure." 
Accidentally I fell in with a respectable inhabitant of the 
place, who had been a companion of his when a boy, and was 
well acquainted with its history, which may be given as 



OF THE WATER CURE. 45 

follows :— Captain Kitner, a retired officer from the Austrian 
service, residing at Freiwaldau, used to amuse himself with 
catching small birds in the forest of Graefenberg, and em- 
ployed young Priessnitz, a sharp, intelligent lad, to assist him 
in watching the twigs which he had besmeared with bird- 
lime. Finding him one day reading to beguile the time, he 
offered to lend him some books that would be more useful to 
him than the one he was engaged with ; upon which he gave 
him a book which treated on the cure of diseases by cold 
water. Shortly afterwards the boy, in cutting twigs, hap- 
pened to cut his finger, inflicting upon it a deep gash. He 
tried the water cure, as prescribed in his book ; dipped his 
finger into cold water until it had ceased bleeding, then 
wrapped it up in a dry linen rag, and again plunged it in 
water. This bandage he kept constantly wet until he found 
that he could pinch his finger without pain, and it felt as if 
well. Upon removing the bandage, he was delighted to find 
that it had not only healed without suppuration, but without 
leaving scarcely a mark or scar behind. Soon afterwards his 
father's cow became hide-bound and feverish, when, according 
to the directions in his book, he dashed several pails of cold 
water on the animal, then threw a cloth over her, and led her 
into a warm stall. On returning after a short absence he 
found the beast lying down, panting for breath, as if dying. 
He then threw another cloth over her, and went to get his 
dinner. After dinner he again returned, expecting to see 
her dead, but upon removing the coverings, he found her in 
a profuse sweat, covered with a frothy foam and breathing 
freely. Upon this he threw some more cold water over her, 
had her well rubbed down with whisps of straw, then covered 
with dry cloths, and led out to exercise for half an hour. 
The next day this treatment was repeated, and on the third 
day the cow was perfectly well, grazing in the field with the 
others. 

Sometime afterwards, it is said, that he met with an accident 



46 A TRUE REPORT 

himself from a cart-wheel passing over his body and breaking 
a rib. There were no surgeons, or medical men, at that time, 
within twenty English miles of Graefenberg, except a barber- 
surgeon at Freiwaldau, who was immediately called in. This 
man, not knowing what ought to be done, put over the con- 
tused or broken rib, if, indeed, the rib were broken, a large 
adhesive plaister, spread on a piece of leather. This caused 
considerable irritation and restlessness. Having himself, on 
a former occasion, succeeded so well with the cut finger — 
the wet bandage subduing the inflammation and healing the 
wound — and having read of wet bandages being applied also 
to the body, Priessnitz directed one to be put to his chest, 
to alleviate the pain he suffered. The sticking-plaister was 
therefore torn off, and to effect the purpose he rested his 
shoulders on one chair and his hinder part on another, raising, 
from necessity, the trunk of his body into an arch — a position, 
the best possible to bring the ends of the rib together if 
broken. A long piece of towelling was then dipped in cold 
water, wrung out and firmly bound round the chest ; this 
was kept constantly moistened, and in a short time he per- 
fectly recovered. Here was another " miracle ! " My only 
reason for questioning whether the rib was really broken, or 
not, is the great exaggeration prevailing at Graefenberg upon 
these matters, so much so, that it is almost impossible to 
obtain a correct statement of anything, even from the j)atients 
themselves whilst describing their own cases. Be this as it 
may, whether the rib was broken or not, the treatment could 
not have been better ; but, as is seen, it was in a great measure 
the effect of chance. 

These two cures obtained for him a considerable reputation, 
and, as the " water cure " was said to be most efficacious 
in rheumatism, of which, amongst other diseases, his book 
treated, he tried it upon some of his neighbours with similar 
success. In the commencement, his mode of applying cold 
water was strictly confined to the practice described by 



OF THE WATER CURE. 47 

Hahn, — springing or washing the body with cold water, 
wrapping the patient up in a blanket, and applying a wet 
bandage to the parts affected. Afterwards, in conjunction 
with these means, the hot and cold baths were used, plunging 
from the one into the other : Floyer and Baynard, from whose 
joint work Hahn copies so largely, having mentioned that 
the best cures were performed by the cold bath, in quick 
succession after the hot one. This was Priessnitz's practice 
for a long time without any alteration. 

It does not appear that he originally adopted the moist sheet, 
notwithstanding Hahn makes mention of it. Herr Richanech 
gave me the following account of this important part of the 
treatment. A patient, suffering from acute rheumatism, had 
not had a night's rest for more than three weeks, owing to the 
feverish paroxysm which accompanies this disease during the 
night. Finding that he derived great benefit from the moist 
bandage, or " umschlag? applied to the parts affected, he 
imagined that if he were to use the " umschlag" over the 
whole of his body it might relieve the pain generally and 
abate the fever. Hence he had a sheet wrung out of cold 
water, wrapped himself in it, and was covered with a blanket 
and an eider-down quilt. This gave such instant relief that 
he fell into a sound sleep, and so continued until the following 
morning, when he awoke refreshed and free from pain. 
Priessnitz was immediately made acquainted with this im- 
portant result, and as immediately enlisted the remedy into 
his means of cure. 

This discovery in some measure superseded the practice 
of sweating in a blanket, and the moist sheet now almost in- 
variably forms a preliminary step in the treatment. In some 
cases, it constitutes the entire treatment in conjunction with 
the hip-bath, the half-bath, or friction with the dripping 
sheet. 

The same individual also informed me, that Priessnitz be- 
came accidentally acquainted with the using of the cold 



48 A TRUE REPORT 

plunging-bath immediately after sweating in the blanket; and 
that, in point of fact, he made no discovery himself respecting 
the "water cure," an assertion there is every reason to believe. 
A Russian, said Herr Richanech, conceived that it would be 
better to plunge into cold water after sweating in the blanket 
(according to the custom in his own country after the use of 
the vapour-bath) than to be spunged or rubbed down with a 
dripping sheet. He, therefore, had a large tub made for the 
purpose. Most of his countrymen, and many others also, 
adopted this alteration, and Priessnitz became so sensible of 
the improvement that he united it to his previous practice. 
In like manner some patients had, at their own expense, a 
<f douche-bath" — a natural falling or cataract-bath, formed in 
the neighbouring forest, as an improvement on pumping cold 
water on the parts diseased. 

From this brief narrative we may learn how much Priess- 
nitz has been the child of fortune rather than the architect of 
his own fame or reputation. It was from the work of Floyer 
and Baynard that the two Hahns derived their knowledge of 
the water treatment, and nearly half the cases recited by Dr. 
J. S. Hahn are copied verbatim from these authors, to whom 
he makes full acknowledgment. Thus, as I have observed, 
the " water cure," which has sprung up among the mountains 
of Silesia, and is now practised by an unlearned peasant, 
derives its origin from our own country. 

It is impossible to get at a correct account of the propor- 
tionate number of cures and failures at Graefenberg, inasmuch 
as the only record kept there is an entry of arrivals and 
departures, which, without reflection, might lead the visitor 
to suppose that all who came and went away were cured. 
And this supposition gains additional strength from the mul- 
tiplicity of books upon the treatment to be met with there, 
abounding, as they do, with exaggerations and misstatements 
implying universal success, whilst every mishap is carefully 
suppressed. Colonel B , who paid some attention to this 



OF THE WATER CURE. 49 

matter, and watched the departures in the autumn of 1842, 
assured me that the numbers cured fell vastly short of the 
report. This gentleman very justly remarked, that if the 
Austrian government had stationed some medical officer at 
Friewaldau, to perform the duties of a commissary of police, 
and make an entry of the particulars of every invalid's 
case on his arrival, and a counter one on his departure, 
they might then have arrived at something like the truth. 
To have established an office for that purpose, would have 
been much more judicious on the part of the Government 
than the sending thither a superannuated physician from 
Vienna to make his observations, and to receive possibly a 
douceur for his most accommodating Report, that " Water was 
a very simple thing, and could do no harm." 

It will be seen, from the following Cases,how far the "water- 
treatment " really deserves the reputation it bears, and how 
far it is a ' £ simple thing " in the hands of those who unskil- 
fully use it. In its application to the surface of the body, the 
whole of the benefit is derived, in most cases, from an imme- 
diate and powerful resistance to its sedative effects — from 
rousing the vital energies to an effectual reaction. Hence, in 
a long-continued application and frequent repetition of cold 
to a debilitated frame, where the requisite reaction necessarily 
becomes daily more and more feeble, nature will soon be 
exhausted, and the patient will die from congestion as a 
matter of course. The " cold-water treatment," therefore, 
although in many cases a most efficient remedy, is by no 
means a " simple " one, but requires the utmost skill and 
caution on the part of the practitioner, and such a know- 
ledge of physiology and pathology as few of those who have 
recently practised it seem to possess. 

CASES. 

Scrofula. — Miss S. S., aged eighteen, fair, transparent 
complexion, light brown silky hair, highly lymphatic tern* 

E 



50 A TRUE REPORT 

perament, body in good case, slightly inclined to embon- 
point, had formerly been susceptible of cold, and subject to 
glandular swellings ; was, therefore, frequently ordered to the 
sea- side, from which she derived much benefit, and latterly 
her health had so improved that she was free from complaint. 

This young lady accompanied her parents to Graefenberg 
on a trip of pleasure, without the slightest intention of 
trying the "water treatment." She arrived there about the 
latter end of April, or the beginning of May, 1842. Her 
father, who was suifering from the effects of a sedentary life 
and from mental application, underwent the treatment, and 
was greatly relieved by it. Influenced by her father's suc- 
cess, and having caught some of the enthusiasm of the place, 
she was also induced to try " a little," in order not to appear 
singular. Hence, she consented to be enveloped for half an 
hour in a moist sheet, and then to be rubbed for two or three 
minutes with a dripping one ; and during her walks she drank 
a few tumblers of cold water. The change of diet, the 
mountain air and exercise, the soothing, sedative effects of the 
moist sheet, the reaction that followed the friction bringing 
with it a warm and healthy glow, seemed during the first three 
or four weeks to agree with her remarkably well, as is almost 
invariably the case with every new comer. She increased in 
flesh ; the muscles acquired additional strength and firmness ; 
the respiration was free, even under the laborious exertion 
of ascending the steep hill from Friewaldau to Graefenberg ; 
the complexion was blooming and rosy ; the spirits light and 
cheerful ; in short, she acquired a buoyancy of mind and body 
quite unknown to her. 

Encouraged by these happy presages of future health, and 
yielding to the intreaties of her friends, she now consented 
to submit to the full process of the " cure," especially as 
Priessnitz promised a safe and certain removal of the " bad 
stuff" in three months, after which she would be perfectly free 
from every taint of disease for the remainder of her life. 

Her parents, auguring well from these first effects, and 



OF THE WATER CURE. 51 

having the utmost confidence in the promises of Priessnitz, 
returned to England, committing her to the care of some 
friends whilst she leisurely pursued the et course." It was 
now deemed expedient to resort to more potent means to 
rouse the latent " bad stuff" from its " hiding holes," and 
expel it from the body. A wet bandage was therefore 
applied to the stomach ; the douche-bath was ordered from one 
to two minutes every day; the moist sheet from half an 
hour to an hour twice a day, immediately followed by strong 
friction for a quarter of an hour in the demi-bath ; to which 
were added the dripping sheet and the hip-bath once a day. 
Thus was her time completely occupied. 

This constant application of cold water to the body roused 
the vital powers to the highest pitch, and was speedily 
attended with the usual feverish excitement. After the 
continuance of these violent means for the space of a month, 
the previously favourable aspect was changed, and the case 
assumed a totally different character. An incessant fever- 
ishness ensued. The glands of the neck, especially the right 
submaxillary gland, began to swell, and a few boils made 
their appearance. All this was deemed highly propitious 
and hailed with delight. The "bad stuff" was now in 
motion, and the " crisis V had commenced which was to carry 
off all disease and rid the body of every impurity. In 
order to accelerate a result in itself so desirable, to promote 
the " coction" of the humours, to moderate the violence of 
the " crisis," and to favour the escape of the " bad stuff" by 
cutaneous exudation, profuse perspiration, or sweating in a 
blanket, was superadded to the treatment already in use. 

We now behold Miss S. S. in the full career of the 
" cure." All the different remedies were concentrated and 
brought to bear upon the system. The sweating process was 
used every other morning, and wet bandages applied to the 
boils and tumours, to promote suppuration; the douche, 
moist sheets, and sitz or hip-bath, continued as before. 

e 2 



52 A TRUE REPORT 

After the infliction of these various remedies, simul et semel, 
for about six weeks, upon a tender and delicate constitution, 
the vital powers, as was to be expected, began to ebb. Her 
strength was greatly impaired, and the reaction, after the cold 
application, took place very feebly, if at all. Whilst lying 
enveloped in the moist sheet she now first complained of pains in 
the stomach-. Notwithstanding matters were in this state for 
some time, Priessnitz expressed himself confident of ultimate 
success, and said that all was going on most favourably. 
Seven weeks previous to the fatal termination of the " cure," 
Miss S. S. was removed by her friends to the neighbouring 
town of Freiwaldau. In seven days after the removal a fever 
supervened, accompanied with delirium, which lasted for a 
fortnight. For this two moist sheets were ordered, in imme- 
diate succession ; the first for half an hour, replaced by a 
second, in which she remained a full hour. On being taken 
from the sheet, she was placed in the half or demi-bath, at 
the low temperature of 50° Fahrenheit. For the first three 
days after the attack of fever she was well rubbed in the 
bath with cold water for two hours; afterwards for one 
hour, which treatment was repeated twice in the day. Whilst 
in the bath, as well as in the moist sheet, she again complained 
of pains in the stomach. The evacuations from the com- 
mencement of the fever were red as blood, and continued so 
to be until death ; and latterly, they were nothing but blood. 
Previously to the fever there was a boil, or " crisis," as it was 
called, on her left breast ; it did not suppurate, but receded 
during the fever. After the fever had left, a vesicular 
eruption broke out all over the body, but disappeared within 
a couple of days. At this time, large boils made their 
appearance, first on the soles of the feet, then on the palms 
of the hands, afterwards on various parts, or rather all over 
the body — on the arms, legs, stomach, and sacrum. Even at 
this period, a fortnight before death, Priessnitz pronounced 
these boils to be a salutary " crisis," and, in spite of all the 



OF THE WATER CURE. 53 

alarming symptoms, declared that in six weeks she would be 
perfectly well, and fit to undertake the journey to England. 
Having been seized with a violent shivering and cramp in her 
stomach whilst under friction in the half-bath, she insisted 
on being taken out, at which Priessnitz, when informed of 
it, became very angry, and the next day sent one of his own 
women with strict orders to prosecute this operation until 
she became warm. 

The moist sheet and the half-bath were persevered with 
twice a day until within two days of her decease. During 
the last three days she vomited blood. No other remedies 
were employed to relieve the patient, and none to sustain 
life. On the night of the second day after the discon- 
tinuance of the treatment, this hapless young lady expired 
in the arms of her attendant, whilst being raised in bed, 
the blood at the same time gushing out of her mouth and 
nostrils. 

On opening the body, the stomach was found to be coated 
with a thick brownish mass, extending into the jejunum, and 
the vessels throughout the alimentary canal were in a high 
state of congestion. There was no induration or enlargement 
of the mesenteric glands, and all the viscera were remarkably 
sound and healthy. The tumour of the submaxillary gland 
had not burst. Deglutition had been extremely difficult for 
several days before her death, and the only food she was 
capable of taking was the pulp of baked apples and a little 
bread soaked in milk, and that only in very small quantities. 
This case is so clearly marked, that it is superfluous to 
make any comment upon it. 

On the day after her death I ventured to express an 
opinion at the dinner-table that she fell a victim to the " water 

treatment." " Oh dear ! sir,'* replied Mrs. , " how can 

you say so ? Mr. Priessnitz treated her as gently as a lamb ; 
he did nothing but put her in a wet sheet. What could be 
more gentle ?" "Do vou call that nothing, madam?" said 



54 A TRUE REPORT 

I ; "it was precisely of that wet sheet that she died." This 
lady then ran on with great volubility, assuring me that such 
could not be the case ; that the treatment agreed with her 
perfectly well, but that she disobeyed Priessnitz's directions 
by doing more than was required, which I afterwards ascer- 
tained to be utterly false. She further said, that, after she 
had been a short time at Graefenberg, she became as plump as 
a partridge and as red as a cherry, and could run up a hill 
like a race-horse. It was, in short, her own fault that she 
died. Poor young lady, how wert thou maligned ! 

When this conversation took place, the body had not been 
opened, and I was uninformed of the particulars of the case, 
which I afterwards collected principally from the woman 
who attended upon her and partly from those who had been 
acquainted with her. The report spread was, of course, that 
she had not followed the instructions given her ; that she had 
remained longer in the moist sheet, longer in the cold bath, 
and drank more cold water than was directed. The quantity 
of cold water prescribed was ten tumblers a day ; with diffi- 
culty she had managed seven. The moist sheet caused pains 
in the stomach ; the cold bath increased those pains, and 
brought on a violent shivering. She was glad when the 
operation was over, and viewed it with a feeling of horror. 
It is not likely, therefore, that she exceeded the orders given. 
When she became very ill, it was only the promises of 
Priessnitz, the persuasions of her friends, combined with her 
own moral fortitude and a desire to recover, that prevailed 
on her to persevere. 

At a subsequent period, when my friend Captain Wolff 
informed Priessnitz, that it was decidedly my opinion she 
died from congestion, induced by the treatment, especially 
the moist sheet, he shrugged his shoulders, and replied, 
that " something gave way in her inside, which caused 
death. That it was his practice to judge of the inside by 
the skin, but that he was restricted in his observations in her 



OF THE WATER CURE. 55 

case, and therefore could not tell what was going on within- 
side." He then mimicked the tone of her voice, and her 
retiring modesty, when he once attempted to remove her 
bathing dress. He afterwards ridiculed the English ladies 
for using bathing dresses at all, so different from the custom 
of his own countrywomen. And all this was said and 
done with a sort of acting or imitating their manners, 
highly amusing to his hearers, who burst out into re- 
peated shouts of laughter. Such is the great, the immortal 
Priessnitz ! Proh pudor ! 

It was no secret that the Mrs. , before alluded to, a 

married lady of some eight or nine months standing, had so 
entirely overcome this national delicacy, that she did not 
scruple to undress herself in the presence of Priessnitz, and 
walk in and out the cold-bath with great composure, bearing 
in mind, no doubt, the well-known motto, that "beauty 
unadorned's adorn'd the most." 

Ulcer, with Caries of the Bone, from a Gun-shot Wound. — The 
cadet Prince Lichtenstein, of middle size and of a full and 
corpulent habit of body, had received, whilst on service in 
Italy, a gun-shot wound in the leg, which injured the tibia. 
The wound remained open for two years, degenerating into a 
foid and fistulous ulcer, and discharging a fetid sanies, accom- 
panied with caries of the bone. The surgeons of Vienna 
advised amputation ; and, as a last resource, the prince went 
to Graefenberg. 

Treatment. — Wet bandages to the ulcer, sweating every 
morning in a blanket, followed by friction in the half-bath, 
or plunging into the cold bath, and drinking copiously of 
cold water. This was continued without intermission for 
two years. The habit of body and general health became 
improved, and there was no loss of flesh, notwithstanding the 
continual sweating. The diseased or carious bone was 
gradually exfoliated in a great many pieces. The ulcer, 



56 A TRUE REPORT 

soon after the commencement of the treatment, assumed a 
healthy action and appearance, and was nearly healed at the 
period of the prince's departure. He fully recovered the use 
of his leg. 

Fluor Albus. — The Princess L accompanied her hus- 
band to Graefenberg. She had an affection of the uterus, 
which Priessnitz at once pronounced to be " cancer uteri." 
It consisted of a white mucous discharge, without any fetid 
odour, and unaccompanied with lancinating or other pains. 

Treatment. — Hip-bath twice a day ; the moist sheet, 
followed by friction with the dripping sheet, and sometimes 
by friction in the demi-bath ; a wet bandage applied to the 
abdomen and lumbar region; cold water drank in moderate 
quantities ; air and exercise. In the course of eight or ten 
months she perfectly recovered. The princess afterwards 
became pregnant, and at the period of her " accouchement" 
the hip-bath was prescribed to arrest the false pains and 
accelerate the labour. In the course of two hours the true 
labour-pains came on, and the labour took place without any 
further difficulty. 

Death from Congestion. — The hip-bath was ordered on the 
following day to " draw down the bad-stuff" and strengthen 
the parts ; in other words, to contract the uterus and promote 
the lochial discharge. The wet bandage was also applied to 
the abdomen. Whilst in the hip-bath the princess com- 
plained of pains in the region of the uterus, and re-action did 
not take place. The next day the bath was repeated for a 
longer period, in order that it might more certainly produce 
its derivative effects. The pain, on the contrary, became more 
pungent, the inflammation more intense, and spread rapidly ; 
the lacteal secretion was entirely suppressed. On the follow- 
ing day the unfortunate princess died. 

Priessnitz exonerated himself from all blame by declaring, 
as usual, that his orders had not been followed ; that the bath 



OF THE WATER CURE. 57 

had not been taken sufficiently cold ; that the water was 
warm, instead of being temperate ; that it was 73° Fahrenheit, 
and not from 55° to 60°, as he had directed. In consequence 
of this, the " bad stuff" had been repelled, instead of being 
drawn out, or, in other words, the re-action had not taken 
place, and, therefore, no derivative effects were obtained. 

I had no means of ascertaining whether this deviation 
from his directions as to the temperature of the bath had 
really taken place, but, amongst the numerous patients at 
Graefenberg, such was generally reported to have been the 
case, and to have occasioned death ; and it is not the interest 
of the bath-attendants to contradict these statements. Yet, 
from the long time the princess had been under his care, 
the unlimited confidence reposed in him, and the punctilious 
precision with which, especially in cases of importance, his 
orders were usually obeyed, one would be inclined to doubt 
the truth of the assertion. The prince, deeply deploring the 
loss he had sustained, a few days afterwards quitted the 
environs of Graefenberg, but not without accusing Priessnitz 
of having been the cause of his sad bereavement, or, what 
may be considered to be the same thing, declaring that his 
injunctions had been strictly attended to. 

Diarrhoea. — Death from Congestion. — A gentleman of for- 
tune, about sixty, was attacked with diarrhoea whilst at 
Graefenberg ; it was considered a " favourable crisis," and 
continued to increase. To promote the " descent of the bad 
stuff," he was ordered to remain in the hip-bath each time a 
full hour, and to repeat it every two hours. This was suc- 
ceeded by evacuations of blood, which were pronounced also 
to be very favourable, and not to be checked. The explana- 
tion given was, that there were hemorrhoids seated high up, 
which produced all the mischief; but that now they had made 
their appearance, or " come down," the " bad stuff" would 
soon be carried off, and then perfect health would ensue. In 



58 A TRUE REPORT 

about a week he died. On opening his body, the rectum and 
colon were found to be in a high state of inflammation, and 
the mucous membrane covered with a thick coat. I could 
not obtain a more circumstantial account of this case. 

Asthma. — Death from Spasm.— A Prussian captain, aged 
about sixty, had been afflicted several years with this disease. 
It was stated, that Priessnitz did not " admit him to the 
cure," that is, did not undertake to cure him, but said he 
might try the moist sheet, followed by the cold-bath. He, 
therefore, perspired in the moist sheet, and upon plunging 
into the cold-bath immediately afterwards, was a corpse within 
two minutes. It was reported, of course, to have been entirely 
his own fault, and no one else was in the least to blame. 

Death from Suffocation. — A. Dzubo, a captain in the 
Austrian service, had been some months under treatment, 
when a " crisis" appeared in the form of a tumour in the 
throat. The abscess burst internally, and he instantly ex- 
pired. This took place on the 17th of April, 1841. I 
could not get at the particulars of this case, either the nature 
of the disease, or whether the tumour was situated in one of 
the glands. It was described to me as having been in the 
middle of the throat, corresponding with the thyroid gland. 
It is an axiom at Graefenberg that Nature must be her own 
surgeon, as well as physician, in all such cases. Had the 
tumour been opened, in all probability this gentleman's life 
would have been saved. 



-Mr. P., an English gentleman, contracted this 
disease at Graefenberg. 

Treatment. — Frequent immersion of the glans penis in 
cold water, and wet linen rags applied to the chancre, which, 
however, continued to spread, and in the course of a fortnight 
buboes appeared in both groins. The hip-bath was then 



OF THE WATER CURE. 59 

ordered, and wet bandages, or compresses, applied to the 
tumours. These daily became worse, and ultimately suppu- 
rated. Some time afterwards, secondary symptoms super- 
vened, the throat became ulcerated, and nodes appeared on 
the forehead. Mr. P. then quitted Graefenberg to seek 
relief elsewhere. 

This is an important case, which, having been taken at its 
very commencement, proves the inefficacy, or, at least, the 
uncertainty of the much-vaunted success of the " water 
cure" in this disease, to which Priessnitz is indebted for a 
considerable portion of his reputation. 

Two-thirds of his patients are said to be syphilitic. Of 
these, almost every one has been over-dosed with mercury, 
and the majority of them suffer solely from that form of 
the disease, which, when the virus is destroyed, may be 
called mercurio-syphilitic, being the effects of mercury. 
Under the " water treatment" as practised at Graefenberg, it 
requires from six months to two or three years to cure these 
secondary symptoms. No doubt the progress of the cure is 
retarded by the quality of the food, and the too long and 
too frequent application of cold. As it is generally known, 
that abstaining a good deal from animal food and fermented 
liquors is effectual towards curing this disease, perhaps some 
of those suffering from it are indebted rather to the anti- 
phlogistic regimen of Graefenberg than to the treatment itself, 
for their recovery ; yet many, after a prolonged stay, leave 
the place uncured. When I mentioned to Priessnitz that the 
disease might be cured by a strict attention to diet, without 
either medicine, or water used medicinally, he shrugged his 
shoulders, took some time to think of his reply, and then said, 
that such might sometimes be the case, but that water was the 
only certain and universal remedy. 

The cure of syphilis, by a strict anti-phlogistic regimen, is 
not such a recent discovery as many may suppose. Dr. 
Cheyne, who wrote in 1720, relates, that he had "heard of a 



60 A TRUE REPORT 

famous sea-commander who effectually cured the first stages 
of venereal distempers by prescribing a twenty-days' diet of 
water gruel only, in which a little cream of tartar was at first 
dissolved; and higher degrees of the same disease, by the 
like diet, continued twice the time." 

Mercurial disease. Mr. R , a young Scotch gentle- 
man, had contracted syphilis at Messina, two years previously 
to his visit to Graefenberg. Was treated by the Sicilian, 
and afterwards the Neapolitan physicians, with mercurial 
inunction, blue pills, and corrosive sublimate. This last pre- 
paration had been taken in such large quantities, by mistake, 
that it endangered his life, causing violent vomitings and 
colliquative diarrhoea. He became so extremely sensitive 
to the electrical changes of the atmosphere, that he assured 
me, he could not only predict rain, but could anticipate the 
approach of a cloud, and tell when it was passing over him, 
though blindfolded. His friends frequently made this expe- 
riment upon him. He had suffered from a mercurial erup- 
tion, and pains in the head, joints, and spine ; ulcerated sore 
throat, loss of appetite, and extreme emaciation. The 
English medical practitioner at Naples afterwards cured him 
of the secondary symptoms with the hydriodate of potass, and 
the compound decoction of sarsaparilla. But, the pains in 
his head and joints, loss of appetite, debility, and emacia- 
tion, continued, combined with an hysterical affection, that 
caused him frequently to shed involuntary tears. He was 
persuaded to consult Preissnitz, and went through the entire 
curriculum of the "cure." The "douche" produced much 
feverish excitement, followed by an erithematoid, or mercurial 
eruption, accompanied with several boils, not venereal ulcers. 
Sweating in a blanket promoted the discharge of the mercury 
accumulated in his system. In four months he was perfectly 
restored to health, regained his strength, flesh, and appetite, 
which last was by no means inconsiderable. He frequently 



OF THE WATER CURE. 61 

walked twenty or thirty miles a-day, and was free from every 
pain. This was the best and most complete cure that fell 
under my observation. 

Hepatitis. Dismissal. — Dr. Bulard, a French surgeon and 
physician, two years before he came to Graefenberg, had been 
attacked by a severe intermittent fever in the Morea, which 
was cut short by very large and frequently repeated doses of 
quinine. The disease being thus stopped in its progress, 
and imperfectly cured, the peccant matter was said to have 
been thrown upon the liver. Be this as it may, congestion 
of that organ took place, — a frequent result of fever. 
Enlargement succeeded, attended with ascites, which Priess- 
nitz undertook to cure. 

Treatment. — The moist sheet, followed by friction in the 
half -bath, the hip-bath and a broad heating bandage, covering 
the whole of the abdomen, were the means adopted. At 
first, the general health was improved, and, it was said, the 
abdomen diminished in size. This treatment went on for 
three or four months, when a diarrhoea took place. Preiss- 
nitz rubbed his hands for joy, declaring it was a most " favour- 
able crisis," and that in a short time he would be well. Dr. 

B shook his head, told him he had formerly experienced 

such a crisis, and afterwards became a great deal worse. 
He proved the better prophet of the two. The abdomen 
increased in size, and the disease became rapidly worse. Two 
or three days afterwards, Priessnitz discovered that the ban- 
dage had not been sufficiently broad, nor the hip-bath suffi- 
ciently cold. As his orders had not been obeyed he would 
no longer be responsible for the cure. This was immediately 
bruited about. Every one was astonished at the doctor's 
obstinacy, not allowing himself to be cured, but using a 
narrow bandage and a tepid bath, instead of a broad one and 
a cold bath. It was such presumptuous folly, when every- 
thing was going on so favourably, to pretend to know better 



62 A TRUE REPORT 

than Preissnitz. My irritable travelling companion declared, 
that he deserved to die, and that it was quite right to have 
nothing- more to do with him. 

In vain the doctor asserted that he had obeyed the orders ; 
Priessnitz himself had caught him in flagrante delicto. The 
cold water would have drawn down the " bad stuff," as was 
proved by the diarrhoea. The tepid water, on the contrary, 
drove it back, as every one knew. All entreaties were in 
vain ; Priessnitz was inexorable. It was not prudent, as before 
observed, that any one should be permitted to die at Graefen- 
berg, if it could be avoided, especially a man like Dr. Bulard, 
who had been acting in the commission for settling the laws 
of quarantine, and was emblazoned with the decorations of 
France, Russia, Austria, and Turkey — and this, too, so soon 
after the death of poor Miss S. S. — however no one liked to 
be the bearer of the death-warrant for him to depart. At 
length another Frenchman undertook the disagreeable task. 
He consequently left for Dresden, where he died about four 
months afterwards. 

This case came under my own immediate observation, and 
the impression on my mind was, that Priessnitz picked a 
quarrel with Dr. Bulard in order to get rid of him, lest his 
reputation for infallibility should be impaired, after having 
decidedly undertaken his cure. 

Gout and Mercurial Syphilis. — His Serene Highness the 
Prince Nassau. This nobleman, the uncle of the reigning 
Duke of Nassau, and formerly colonel proprietor of an Austrian 
regiment, had, through intemperance, become a complete 
martyr to these two diseases. I was informed that his spine 
was affected, so that he was obliged almost constantly to lie in 
bed, and that he was covered from head to foot with venereal 
nodes and ulcers. No longer able to perform his military 
duties, he had resigned his regiment, and placed himself 
under the care of Priessnitz. He remained in the neigh- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 63 

bourhood of Graefenberg for the long space of four years, 
under treatment, and was ultimately cured, although still 
walking with a considerable stoop, and some degree of 
lameness. 

At Graefenberg he became acquainted with a lady, whom 
he married. Now, mark the sequel ! Not a month passed over 
before a most violent fit of the gout broke out. I could not 
ascertain whether the prince had relapsed into his former 
habits, or whether it was simply the effect of marriage that 
elicited the disease. Either might have done so ; but, if the 
latter, then the " water cure " cannot be a preservative against 
the gout, which, it is said, is the case, provided the patient 
adheres strictly to the prescribed regimen. As it does not, 
however, destroy the gouty diathesis, or predisposition, the 
patient must not commit any excess, or infraction of the rules, 
but observe the precept of Horace — 

" Cave, ne titubes, niardataque frangas " 

Skin-Disease ; Gravel; Great Nervous Irritability. — Mr. H. 

H , aged about sixty, of a bilious complexion, spare 

habit, great mobility of the nervous system, volubility of 
speech, accompanied with gesticulation, violent action of the 
muscles of the face, a restless staring of the eye; walking 
with long and rapid strides, eyes fixed on the ground, as if in 
deep meditation ; great despondency — so great that he said it 
was not in the power of language to describe his painful sensa- 
tions ; that life was insupportable, and, had it not been for a 
sense of duty, moral and religious, he would gladly have put 
a period to his miserable existence. Had for the last eight 
or ten years been afflicted with gravel, accompanied with 
pains in the loins and hip-joint. Was also suffering from a 
skin-disease, consisting of furfuraceous scales, sores, and 
scabs, discharging a fetid greenish matter, and attended with 
much itching, especially Avhilst in bed. Watchfulness. 

This patient had formerly been in our civil service in 



64 A TRUE REPORT 

India, but, being incapable of close application, or the steady 
pursuit of an object, he was compelled to resign his appoint- 
ment. He had tried various remedies. Mercury and sarsa- 
parilla produced no good effect. Warm sulphuretted baths 
seemed to increase the nervous irritability, and were, there- 
fore, abandoned. 

Treatment. First fortnight. — Moist sheet twice a day, 
followed by friction in the half-bath, at 60° Fahrenheit, 
in the morning, and a dripping sheet in the afternoon. A 
hip-bath at eleven in the forenoon, with the dripping- 
sheet. Wet bandage constantly worn round the abdomen. 
Third week. — The moist sheet omitted every other morn- 
ing, and sweating in the blanket used in its stead, followed 
at first by the half-bath, and afterwards by the plunging- 
bath. 

One morning, he remained too long in the cold plunging- 
bath, which, at that season of the year, November, the weather 
being frosty ,was about 36° or 40° Fahrenheit. In vain Frantz, 
the bath-attendant, cried out, " Goot ! goot ! " Poor Mr. H. 

H fancied that the exclamations meant "Good! good! 

Persevere! persevere!" instead of "Enough! enough!" He 
therefore continued until he could no longer endure the 
piercing cold. On getting out, he staggered and fell down. 
The remainder of the day, he suffered from intense head- ache, 
which did not entirely leave him for several days. He was, 
therefore, ordered to encircle his head with a wet bandage. In 
consequence of this accident, the sweating and cold plunging- 
bath were discontinued, and the former treatment returned to. 

Whilst travelling with this gentleman, I had made up my 
mind to be in some measure guided in my judgment of the 
" water cure " from its operation in his case, which I con- 
sidered a bad one, of long standing, but in every respect suited 

for the trial. Mr. H. H described the effects of the moist 

sheet as most soothing ; so much so, that he declared he could 
remain in it for ever ; it seemed as if he were in Paradise ; 



OF THE WATER CURE. 65 

and he quitted it with extreme reluctance. He had never, he 
said, experienced such ease, comfort, and delightful sensations ; 
adding, that it acted upon him like a charm, — that, whilst in 
it, he could fancy himself free from every complaint. Such 
were its sedative effects, that he had not been at Graefenberg 
a week before the beneficial results were most evident. The 
expression of his eye and countenance became tranquil ; his 
speech, walk, and general manners, comparatively calm and 
sedate. I confess that I was myself quite astonished at the 
change which had so rapidly ensued, insomuch that it occurred 
to me what a useful remedy the moist sheet might become 
in our own lunatic asylums. The wet bandage also relieved 
the pain in the kidnies, and, in less than a month, he was per- 
fectly free from the gravel. 

Having taken some dislike to me, or, perhaps, distrust at 
my not having revealed to him my profession, I scarcely saw 
this gentleman after I left Graefenberg for Friewaldau, except 
two or three times in the apartments of my friend, Captain 
W., when he conversed with me as if an entire stranger, 
apparently under great constraint. His countenance had then 
resumed much of its original expression, accompanied with 
the peculiar restlessness of the eyes ; and, upon inquiry, I 
was informed, that he had again become irritable and iras- 
cible about trifles, and most susceptible of offence. 

This interesting case tended to confirm my opinion, that 
the "water treatment" produces its most marked effects during 
the first month ; and that afterwards, the disease is more or 
less stationary, and sometimes a relapse gradually comes on. 
That it should be so, is in perfect accordance with the 
general law of physical agents on the animal economy, when 
long continued. Either the system accommodates itself to 
the circumstances under which it is placed, whence the pro- 
verb, "use is a second nature," or those circumstances induce 
disease. Thus with the " water treatment," — as a stimulant or 
counter-irritant, it may overcome the diseased action, — and, as 

F 



66 A TRUE REPORT 

a sedative, it may diminish and allay that action. But if within 
a stated period, nature cannot effect a cure, the treatment 
should be suspended or relaxed, in order to allow her time for 
repose, as spontaneously takes place in the law of " crisis." 

Chronic dysentery. — Captain Wolff, aged about forty, middle 
size, muscular system well developed, sanguine temperament. 
Complained of a sense of heat in the crown of the head, 
sometimes cephalalgia, dimness of sight, muscw wlitantes, and 
slight vertigo. The cheeks and the nose inflamed. Habitual 
constipation, alvine evacuations, scybalous mixed with slime 
and caseiform matter, of a brownish colour, at times slightly 
tinged with blood. Had been thus afflicted several years. 
About two years previously was entirely deprived of sight for 
three days. This gentleman was under treatment nine months, 
and left at the same time with myself. 

On his arrival, Priessnitz examined him in the following 
manner. First, had him rubbed down with a wet sheet, then 
rubbed him dry ; afterwards put him into a cold bath, then 
into a warm one, alternating them several times in quick suc- 
cession. Each time on coming out of the cold bath, the 
skin assumed a deep crimson colour, and when out of the 
warm bath, was perfectly white, At length, observing that 
on coming out of the cold bath, a white spot appeared, about 
the size of the hand, over the sacrum, where the reaction did 
not take place, he pronounced his disease to be that of 
hemorrhoids, which had not yet descended or become appa- 
rent ; and, having learnt that the captain's father had been 
subject to this disease, he further declared it was hereditary, 
and readily undertook to cure it. 

The Treatment, at the commencement, was as usual, — the 
moist sheet, half-bath, dripping-sheet, and hip-bath. Ban- 
dages round the abdomen and legs. This was continued 
with little variation for the first three or four months, when 
sweating, the plunging bath, and the douche were added. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 67 

In short, he went through the entire course with occasional 
variations. An enthusiastic admirer of Priessnitz, and of 
a sanguine temperament, he felt confident of success as 
soon as [he was " admitted to the cure." It was in vain 
I represented to him, that his complaint could not fail to 
be aggravated. One day, entering my apartment, radiant 
with joy, he announced that the " bad stuff" was at last 
" drawn down," for that he had evacuated a large quantity 
of slime mixed with cheese -like matter. I could not even 
then convince him, that this was the effect of the cold hip- 
bath repelling the blood towards the intestines, and thus 
causing congestion, and increasing the malady. 

Captain W. pursued the directions given him with inde- 
fatigable assiduity, rising in the depth of winter at three 
in the morning to be enveloped in the moist sheet, taking 
the cold plunging bath immediately afterwards ; then the 
" douche" at twelve, and, in the afternoon, the moist sheet 
again, and the hip-bath and dripping-sheet twice a day. He 
constantly consulted Priessnitz, and scrupulously followed 
his advice. Moreover, he diligently studied the effects pro- 
duced on others, and collected a great number of cases. So 
sanguine and enthusiastic was this gentleman, that he regarded 
Priessnitz, at one time, as something almost divine. Unable, 
however, to boast of having received any benefit, he was yet 
unwilling to admit that it had done him any harm ; notwith- 
standing his servant assured me, that his health was much 
better at the time he came to Graefenberg. Since my 
return to England I have received a letter containing the 
following remarks : — 

" .... What further effects has the " water cure" pro- 
duced on your constitution ? As for me, alas, it has not yet 
obtained the wished- for success, I am almost always in the 
same condition, suffering still from dyspepsia, the "mouches 
volantes," and everything else, the same as before. You 
were indeed a true, but, to me, ill-omened prophet ! 

F % 



68 A TRUE REPORT 

We Germans like novelties, but only persevere with them 
when they are founded on a sound system, and supported 
by substantial arguments, Therefore, the allopathic doc- 
trine will maintain its ground. It seems to me like the 
Christian religion, which, in spite of various sects, will 
always hold itself upright, its principles being unshakably 

true and just That Doctor Bulard died at Dresden on 

the 12th of March, will be made known to you by the Uni- 
versal Gazette. You prophesied his sure and early death." 

Captain W. enjoyed, deservedly, much popularity at 
Graefenberg. He is a gentleman of the most amiable and 
accomplished manners, well versed in literature, and imbued 
with science, having been formerly an officer of engineers. 
He was the principal member of the committee of manage- 
ment at Graefenberg — the "arbiter elegantiarum" of their 
balls and fetes, and intimately acquainted with every patient 
of distinction seeking relief from the " water cure," alas, no 
cure for him ! 

However efficacious the treatment and regimen may be 
in many instances, his case alone will sufficiently expose the 
absurdity of calling it an universal remedy, capable of super- 
seding the use of medicine. Useful, judiciously administered, 
it might have been, in this and many other unsuccessful cases, 
and advantageously combined with medicinal remedies. It 
is its misapplication, as with Miss S. S., &c, which tends to 
bring it into disrepute ; and those, who empirically extol its 
virtues, and affect to deride all other means, contribute not 
a little to this end. 

Gout. My own case. — I arrived at Graefenberg on Tues- 
day, 18th October, 1842, aged 52. Had been subject to 
gout at intervals for the last ten years, and the fits seemed 
to have been influenced by moral as well as by physical 
causes. Two years before, a severe attack in both feet and 
knees had been brought on from exposure to wet and cold 



OF THE WATER CURE. 69 

on horseback. Since then, I had constantly suffered from 
slight rheumatic pains. A good appetite, but moderate 
in the use of drink. Inclined to fat, especially about 
the abdomen ; muscles small, weak, and lax. Fair com- 
plexion ; sanguine temperament. Skin, dry and somewhat 
harsh, hot or cold, never soft and moist. Frequent cramps 
in the thighs, legs, and latterly in the soles of the feet. 
Nights restless, sleep not refreshing. Pulse contracted, 
hard, from 70 to 80; perfect intermissions every 15th or 
18th pulsation, imperfect ones every 5th or 6th. Sus- 
p ected an organic disease of the heart, which throbbed and 
laboured. Palpitation, shortness of breath, profuse per- 
spiration, exhaustion after a little muscular exertion. It 
seemed as if the gouty matter had, since the last attack, 
been accumulating in the system, without there being suffi- 
cient strength of constitution to throw it into the extremities, 
or bring on the paroxysm. The weather was open and fine, 
the mountains covered with snow, the nights frosty, the air 
keen, cold, and penetrating. 

Treatment. Wednesday, 19th. At five in the morning 
I was enveloped in the moist sheet. The sensation of cold 
was at first so intense, that it seemed as if I was packed in 
ice and snow. A quivering of the muscles and chattering 
of the teeth came on, similar to that which is experienced 
in a fit of the ague. In two or three minutes, this sensation 
passed away, the heat of the body having gradually created 
a sort of vapour bath, when I was somewhat reconciled to 
my new situation. My pulse was rapidly brought down 
to 60, and did not afterwards rise above 66. In three 
quarters of an hour, the bath-attendant, Frantz, came and 
found me in a slight perspiration, when I got up and was 
washed for two or three minutes in the half-bath, the 
extreme chill of the water having been taken off so as to 
bring it to about 50° or 55° Fahrenheit. At eleven I was 
rubbed down with the wet sheet, which was succeeded by a 



70 A TRUE REPORT 

foot-bath, for ten or fifteen minutes, of extremely cold water, 
about two inches in depth. The effect of the cold on the 
soles of the feet was such that I could scarcely endure it, 
and the feet became of a bright crimson hue. At five in the 
afternoon, the treatment was repeated, the moist sheet for an 
hour, and then the half-bath. 

Next day, the hip-bath was substituted for the foot-bath. 
This was also intensely cold, causing a stinging, tingling 
sensation, as if the points of innumerable fine needles were 
everywhere penetrating the skin as it came into contact 
with the water. The same bright crimson colour appeared 
as before. This sensation, together with the look of the 
skin, were deemed highly propitious. Such was the course 
of treatment I underwent, without much deviation, during 
the first week. I could not become reconciled to the moist 
sheet ; it frequently brought down my pulse to 50 ; hence, I 
sometimes shirked it in the afternoon, and used instead the 
hip-bath, and friction with the dripping sheet. I had a great 
inclination for a sweat in the blanket. 

Second week. Having, through Frantz, communicated 
to Priessnitz my wish to be sweated, he readily consented 
to it. The blanket was therefore brought into operation 
every alternate morning, and, on the other mornings, the 
moist sheet as before* Over me were placed two light fea- 
ther beds, closely fastened down with two or three small 
sheets. My situation was not so very uncomfortable. The 
perspiration did not make its appearance under two or three 
hours ; and, after I had sweated profusely a full hour, I was 
uncovered and got up. In this state, perspiring at every 
pore and with the blanket folded round me, I had to walk 
between thirty and forty yards, along an open passage, 
exposed to the wind and weather, which at the time was 
cold and frosty, to the bath-room, or shed : for a moment I 
paused when there, but, every moment was precious, and 
there was no retreat; therefore, quickly throwing off the 



OF THE WATER CURE. 71 

blanket, in I went, headlong, into a large tub or vat of 
ice-cold water, and was not a little surprised at the agree- 
able sensations I experienced. If the moist sheet had acted 
as a charm on my travelling companion, this was to me as a 
touch of the enchanter's wand. All sense of debility or 
lassitude, occasioned by the previous sweating, vanished at 
the instant my body came in contact with the water, and as 
suddenly was a feeling of strength and vigour imparted to 
my whole frame. I remained in the bath, rubbing myself 
and moving about, from thirty seconds to a minute, until the 
second impression of cold, or a shiver, came over me, which 
sooner or later takes place in every case. I then got out, 
was rubbed down with a dry sheet, and immediately re- 
turned to my room to dress. The reaction took place most 
perfectly, so that I felt refreshed, light, and elastic. All 
over my body the skin assumed a healthy glow, was warm, 
and slightly tingling. Having quickly dressed myself, I 
took a long walk, and drank from five to seven large tum- 
blers of cold water (fifteen or twenty of the drinking glasses 
in use at Graefenberg), before taking my breakfast. The 
other portions of my treatment were continued as before, 
with the addition of a wet bandage round my middle, and, 
during the night, bandages also to the knee and ancle -joint 
of my left leg. These bandages were not applied continually, 
lest, as Priessnitz observed, they should bring out a " crisis," 
in which case my stay at Graefenberg would be protracted 
beyond the time I proposed to remain. I generally shirked 
the moist sheet in the afternoon. 

The hip-bath brought on a considerable inflammation of 
the skin, particularly on the inside of the thighs, where 
it became thickened, and of a bluish purple colour. A con- 
siderable exudation also took place whilst sitting in the hip- 
bath, giving the water a turbid and whey-like appearance. 
At the end of the second week, my pulse had become quite 
natural, full, and soft, and, to my great satisfaction, entirely 



72 A TRUE REPORT 

ceased to intermit. I constantly drank from fifteen to twenty 
large tumblers of cold water during the day. 

The more profuse the perspiration, the more refreshing 
was the cold bath, and the more certain and complete the 
reaction it produced, provided I did not remain in it too 
long. On one occasion, I went into the plunging bath after 
perspiring only a very little in the moist sheet, when the 
reaction did not take place at all ; the consequence of which 
was, that I was chilly the whole of the day, with head-ache 
and sneezing, and at night I was feverish. In short, I 
had caught cold. A good sweat in the blanket, how- 
ever, the following morning, carried off all these symp- 
toms. On another occasion, whilst perspiring pretty freely 
from a long walk, Frantz directed me to strip, and imme- 
diately threw over me the dripping sheet. This treatment 
might seem calculated to produce dangerous consequences : 
such, however, was not the case ; on the contrary, it was 
highly refreshing — the sudden shock as suddenly passed off 
and was succeeded by an agreeable reaction. It may be 
noticed, that coach-masters treat their horses in a similar 
manner, by having cold water thrown over them when in a 
heated condition. 

I did not purpose remaining more than a month to try the 
effect of the " water cure," but fate ordained it otherwise. On 
Saturday, November 4th, whilst plunging into the bath, my 
left foot got entangled in the blanket, which brought both 
my thighs, and especially my left one, forcibly across the 
edge of the tub, with all the momentum my body had 
acquired by being precipitated into the water. Had the 
bone been broken, my situation would have been truly 
pitiable ; without a friend, ignorant of the language, in tha 
depth of winter, and far from England, in a place where 
there was no surgeon of any skill, nor any of the necessary 
apparatus for a broken limb. The contused part became 
instantly painful and tense, as if a cord were bound tightly 



OF THE WATER CURE. 73 

round it. At dinner I spoke of the accident I had met with, 
and of my intention to apply an " umschlag," or wet band- 
age to the part. i( You must not do so without consulting 
Priessnitz," observed my opposite neighbour. " Why ? 
Madam," said I, "I am sure he will approve of it; but, 
to please you, I will consult him." On doing so, his direc- 
tion was, that I should apply the " umschlag" forthwith, 
and repeat it, without intermission, until the pain ceased. 
At night, unable to walk, I put on the bandage ; and, in 
the morning, the pain had abated, the hardness, swelling, and 
inflammation of the muscles and their fascia, had almost 
subsided, so that I felt able to walk, but preferred lying in 
bed all day, and going without my dinner. 

On the following day, Monday, I removed to Friewaldau, 
into the same house with Herr Richanech, the person to 
whom I have before alluded. The heating-bandage pro- 
duced a violent inflammation of the skin, as if a metastasis 
had taken place, which seemed to be the case. Herr Bicha- 
nech advised my continuing the hip-bath three times a day, 
with ice-cold water, and bandaging both thighs. This 
greatly provoked the inflammation and thickening of the 
skin, especially on the inside. The left thigh became tense 
and painful ; the skin rigid, and of a deep purple hue. The 
viscid exudation both on the bandages and in the hip-bath, 
was to me most surprising, coating the linen with a dark 
brown stain, and rendering the water turbid and full of 
flocculi. As this operation was repeated three times a day, 
the quantity exuded during the fortnight I continued it 
must have amounted to several pounds weight; and the 
swelling had so increased, that, being unable either to stand 
or sit, I was compelled to remain the whole time in a recum- 
bent position. 

Still did my new doctor, Kichanech, advise the conti- 
nuance of these means, viz. the cold hip-bath, leg-bath, and 
wet bandages ; saying, that the " crisis " would pass off in 



74 A TRUE REPORT 

a few days, and that, as the "bad stuff" was being drawn 
down, it would be dangerous to repel it with warm or tepid 
baths ; that the copious discharge was an indication of a 
speedy and complete recovery. But, the inflammation of 
the skin increased, and with it the swelling of the limb, 
which had now become four inches larger in circumference 
than the other. Even this was deemed favourable, as tend- 
ing to drain every particle of "bad stuff ' from my body. 
The pain, however, was daily becoming more and more 
severe, and the weight and stiffness of the limb such that I 
could scarcely move or drag it after me. 

My kind friend, Captain W., seeing me in this woful 
plight — in an uncomfortable room, vaulted over with stone 
like a cellar, and equally cold and damp, immediately pro- 
cured for me some other lodgings (those in which Miss S. S. 
died), and got me removed into them ; he then sent to Grae- 
fenberg for a sweating-blanket, and caused me to be thrown 
into a profuse perspiration, in order to moderate the severity 
of the " crisis." By these means, the pain and violence of 
the inflammation were speedily removed. Herr Bichanech 
was totally ignorant of the effect which would result from 
this, although he afterwards said that he had mentioned it to 
me, and exonerated himself from all blame by pretending 
that I had taken my own course (Grod knows I was too ill 
to think or act for myself!) and would not follow his direc- 
tions; so far from which, I was daily and hourly asking 
what he could do to mitigate my sufferings. 

I was now sweated every morning, with good effect ; then 
rubbed with temperate water in the half-bath, and after- 
wards half-enveloped in wet bandages, Captain W. hu- 
manely superintending the operations. As the inflammation 
of the skin subsided, I found that a very considerable effusion 
had taken place in the subjacent cellular membrane, which, 
together with the discoloration, gradually descended into 
the leg. At length, the effused lymph reached the foot, 



OF THE WATER CURE. id 

which then became swollen, and was attended with a severe 
aching pain, the precursor of gout. Again, I was unable 
to walk across the room, and compelled to resume my 
reclining posture. A wet bandage was now applied to the 
foot and leg, to promote the absorption of the effused 
fluid. On the following day, Sunday, November 27, the 
gout fully declared itself. The wet bandage had caused a 
vesicular eruption and inflammation of the skin, and, without 
doubt, brought on the disease, which now proceeded rapidly, 
and with excruciating pain. I felt as if my bones were being 
crushed and ground between two millstones. I did not, how- 
ever, as on former occasions, experience that burning heat in the 
articulation of the great toe, as though a drop of molten lead 
were boiling and hissing in the joint, or as if it were being 
rended and riven asunder with wedges of red-hot iron. The 
burning heat was located in, or drawn to the skin. The left 
knee was also attacked, and became enlarged, very painful, 
and not admitting: of the slightest motion. I also suffered 
much pain in the loins, especially about the left kidney. In 
this state, too intently occupied with my sufferings, sleep 
was banished from my eyes. My kind friend proposed to sit 
up with me, which I could not permit. The night was, 
therefore, passed in solitude, and its stillness only broken by 
my half-suppressed sighs and groans. The next day Priess- 
nitz was consulted. 

Priessnitz's Advice during my first Fit of the Gout. — Early 
in the morning a sweat in the blanket for two hours ; then 
well rubbed for half an hour in the half-bath at about 60° 
Fahrenheit. In the evening, perspiring in two moist sheets, — 
in the first for fifteen, in the second for thirty minutes, — 
then rubbed as before in the demi-bath for half an hour. 
The moist sheet, instead of the blanket, on the morning of 
the second and every alternate day. Wet bandages to every 
part where pain was felt. 



76 A TRUE REPORT 

These orders were most strictly complied with, notwith- 
standing the half hour in the cold bath seemed of eternal 
duration, and the effect of the cold such as to occasion 
a sensation of torpor and fatigue. When rubbed dry, 
I experienced no cold at the instant, but after being 
covered up in bed, all its intensity returned. So tho- 
roughly had it abstracted every particle of warmth from my 
body, that it seemed as if I never should be warm again ; 
and thus I lay shivering and shaking for at least a couple 
of hours. It was, however, the means of suppressing the 
fever, alleviating the pain, and procuring me a comfortable, 
sound, and refreshing sleep, out of which I was roused next 
morning, to be placed between a couple of moist sheets. 
The wet bandages had removed the pain from the kidnies. 
Two years previously, while under an attack of the gout, 
I took, in one night, four hundred drops of laudanum, with- 
out their producing the least effect. On a former occasion, I 
had taken the same quantity of the black drop, Batemaris 
liquor sedatim, and other powerful medicines. The pain, or 
the gout itself, protects the system from the influence of 
opium, or any of its preparations. I believe, whilst suffering 
under the paroxysms of this disease, I could have swallowed 
an ounce or two of these tinctures, without feeling any other 
inconvenience than that of slight stupor. Hence we may 
infer, that the sedative effects of cold very much surpass 
those of opium, or perhaps of any other known remedy. 

In a day or two Priessnitz paid me a visit, and told Capt. 
Wolff, that the more strictly I adhered to his rules, and the 
longer I remained in the bath, the more speedily I should get 
well, and be able to start on my journey homeward. 

Saturday, 10th December. — The swelling of the knee and 
foot had now greatly subsided, so that, with a stick, I could 
just manage to hobble across the room. For some days past, I 
had felt a slight aching pain on the crown of the cap of the 



OF THE WATER CURE. 77 

right knee, and a vesicular eruption began to make its appear- 
ance on the instep of the right foot, burning, blistering, and 
excoriating the part, and staining the linen of a yellowish 
brown colour. This, I have little doubt, was the acrid 
matter of the gout, which was then drawn to the surface, 
and was attended with precisely the same description of red- 
hot burning heat I used to suffer, in former attacks, in the 
articulation of the toe. Small pieces of old linen, wrung out 
of cold water, and bound over with dry bandages, were applied 
to the foot and knee. The eruption, or " crisis," rapidly 
spread wherever the bandages were placed, and the parts 
became greatly swollen. The pain, on the slightest motion, 
was so great, that once I could not bear being lifted from the 
bed into the bath. Priessnitz was again consulted, and paid 
another visit. 

Priessnitz s Advice on his Second Visit, as delivered to Capt. 
Wolff. — " As long as the pain is so violent, Dr. G. will lie 
every morning and afternoon in the moist sheet, which will 
be changed every hour and a half, and he is to remain in it 
as long as he can. After the moist sheet, he will be put 
into the demi-bath, at about 60° Fahrenheit, and then 
rubbed for half an hour, or as much longer as he can endure 
the cold. The longer he remains in the bath, and the greater 
degree of cold and shivering he experiences, the more salu- 
tary will be the effect. The parts suffering from the gout are 
not to be enclosed within the moist sheet, lest the pain 
should be increased by the heat and pressure of the bed- 
clothes, and that the bandages may be the more readily 
changed when they become hot. When the changing of the 
bandages causes much pain, moistening them with cold water 
will refresh the parts." 

I was now sadly reduced by the disease, by the severity of 
the treatment, and by my great abstinence, — my food con- 
sisting merely of a small quantity of bread and milk, and, at 
dinner, a sort of hasty pudding. The frequent application of 



78 A TRUE REPORT 

the moist sheet, during the first attack, had reduced my pulse, 
whilst I was in it, generally to 53, sometimes to 48. I had 
a short, dry, hard cough ; sneezing, and a constant singing in 
my ears, resembling the chirping of birds, which last effect I 
have not even yet entirely got rid of. Under these circum- 
stances, and as the moist sheet was not imperative, I re- 
solved to abstain from its further use. In vain my friend, 
Capt. Wolff, urged me to continue it; my reply was, that 
if I did, he would have to lay me by the side of poor 
Miss S. S. ; therefore, instead of the moist sheet, I was 
enveloped every day, from six to seven or eight hours, in the 
blanket, and then rubbed for half an hour in the bath, at 
55° or 60° Fahrenheit. 

Upon one occasion, during this relapse, Priessnitz visited 
me whilst in the bath, and afterwards told Capt. W. that 
I had good blood, a strong constitution, but a delicate and 
tender skin. He then added, " you may now tell your 
friend, Dr. Gr., that he will never have the gout again, which 
would not be the case had he taken his own poisonous 
drugs." 

Having now adopted the sweating system, I was disposed, 
by way of experiment, to unite with it the other part of 
Schrott's practice,* — viz. to pass one entire day without eating 
or drinking, and afterwards to eat and drink but very sparingly 
for several days, limiting myself to two small rolls and one 
glass of water. On the second day, under this regimen, there 
was, in the urine, a very copious deposit of a yellowish colour, 
tinged with pink, and a large quantity of uric acid, crystallized 
in brilliant ver million flakes. This was continued in smaller 
quantities for several successive days. No deposit of this kind 
had previously taken place, the urine having always been of a 
pale colour, without even coating the vessel with the pink 
sediment, so usual during the paroxysm of gout. 

* This practice is described a few pages on. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 79 

Each fit appeared to go through its, natural course, and 
lasted about a fortnight. A week of exacerbation, and a 
week of decline. My body became, at length, so sensitive to 
the sedative influence of cold water, that even the drinking 
of a tumbler of it immediately reduced my pulse ; and such 
was the effect of the frequent application of the moist sheet 
during my first attack, — so listless and languid did I feel 
whilst lying in it, that it seemed to me as though it would 
have been an easy thing to die. The skin of my knees, legs 
and feet, was converted into a species of mucous membrane, 
abounding with numerous papilla?, from which a copious 
exudation poured forth, so that the pieces of white linen 
wrapped round them were, more or less, changed to a yel- 
lowish brown colour. The odour that was emitted varied, 
being sometimes impregnated with urea, at others slightly 
acid, but more frequently resembling the smell of boiled cab- 
bage ; my bath-attendant said it was like sour krout. 

After the subsiding of this second attack, the " crisis," as 
it was called, still continued. I was unable to stand, partly 
from general debility, and partly from the weakness, swelling, 
and tenderness of the joints. Priessnitz, on being consulted, 
said that this arose, not from the gout, but from some other 
disease, the " bad stuff" of which was making its escape ; and 
that, when it had done so, I should be perfectly exempted 
from every disease. 

My friend, Capt. Wolff, being now on the eve of his de- 
parture, and, dreading to be left where I was, I determined 
to make an effort to depart also. The chaise was ordered ; 
with difficulty I got on my clothes ; but, when my friend 
arrived, he found that I could not stand. Capt. Wolff hu- 
manely deferred his journey on my account. The gout had 
once more returned, exactly at the insertion of the tendon 
into the heel of either foot. During the day it shifted, 
getting round towards the toe of the right foot, and passing 
through the ankle-joint of the left. The next day, New 



80 A TRUE REPORT 

Year's Day, I remained in the blanket from six in the morn- 
ing until two in the afternoon, and the same the following 
day. Fortunately, this attack was of short continuance, for 
on Tuesday I was sufficiently recovered to be able to stand. 
The chaise again drove to the door, and, supported by my two 
friends, I quitted my chamber, where I had been confined, 
almost entirely to my bed, for five long weeks. My legs and 
knees were covered with wet bandages, and enclosed in a 
pair of large cloth boots, made expressly for the occasion ; 
and, wrapped in my sweating blanket, I thus, in the depth 
of winter, commenced my journey of a thousand miles. 
Captains Wolff and Modler accompanied me the first 
stage, where I parted from these worthy and inestimable 
gentlemen, with tears of gratitude in my eyes. 

The frost had now set in with much severity, attended 
with a keen, piercing wind. At four the next morning, I 
started for Breslau, and arrived there about two in the after- 
noon. Shortly after my arrival at the inn, I was seized with 
a violent rigor, which lasted three or four hours. I ordered 
the stove in my bed-chamber to be heated, renewed the wet 
bandages, and got to bed. Towards evening, fever came 
on, accompanied with much heat, but no elevation of the 
pulse. Notwithstanding the fever, so completely was nature 
exhausted that I slept soundly throughout the night. On 
removing the bandages the next morning, my knee was 
swollen and considerably inflamed ; and the linen cloths, 
which had been wrapt round it, smelt as strongly of urine as 
if they had been steeped in that fluid. I remained in bed all 
day ; towards evening the fever had greatly abated, and the 
pulse was weak and slow. I passed another day at Breslau, 
confined to my room, and, on the following evening, started 
for Dresden, where I arrived in safety on the morning of 
the 8th. 

Worn out with sickness and fatigue, I returned to the hotel 
which I had put up at previously to my journey to Graefen- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 81 

berg. As the bandages had not been .renewed since I left 
Breslau, they had become perfectly dry, and my legs were 
thickly covered with a silvery scurf. Having bathed them, 
and replaced the bandages, I sent for my son, a boy 
eleven years old, whom I had placed here at school. On 
entering the room, and approaching toward me, he all at 
once stopped short, gazed in mute astonishment, and hesi- 
tated whether to advance or not; and, even after I had 
embraced him, his stedfast look was riveted upon me, until 
at last he burst into tears. Affected at this conduct of the 
child, my first impression was that he was unhappy at school, 
which drew from me the exclamation, that if such were the 
case he should return with me to England. " Why papa," 
he at length sobbed out, " you look so thin that I did not 
know you — I could not believe it was you." I relate this 
circumstance merely to show how altered I must have been 
in that short space of time, for my son not to have recog- 
nised me. He was not singular, however, in this respect, for 
it was the case with every one, even the domestics at the 
hotel. The change having taken place gradually, I was 
familiarized with it, and quite unconscious of the extent to 
which it had gone. 

Two days afterwards, the gout declared itself in my left 
knee and foot, but with less violence than in the two pre- 
ceding attacks, on which it seemed to have spent its force. 
Its continuance was the same as before, — a week of exacerba- 
tion, and a week of decline. My treatment was now con- 
fined to the wet bandages, the leg-bath of temperate water, 
the drinking of cold water, and a partial abstinence from 
animal food. 

In about three weeks I started from Dresden, passed 
through Berlin, where I stopped some days, and then went 
by the post-coach to Hamburg. Having been two nights 
and a day confined in the coach, my legs had swollen into 
shapeless masses; but, regardless of all the inconvenience 

G 



82 A TRUE REPORT 

produced by it, I set off the same night for Hull, and thence 
proceeded to London, without delay, where I arrived Fe- 
bruary the 10th. 

I had not been at home more than three days before the 
gout came on again in both my feet and knees, but, as 
before, greatly subdued, although sufficient to prevent my 
moving about : so that I had four, or rather five distinct 
paroxysms of the disease in little more than three months, in 
spite of Priessnitz's prediction, that, after the second fit, 
I should never have it again. 

The theory at Graefenberg, that the sweating process 
draws the "bad stuff" to the surface, and the subsequent 
application of cold fixes it there, and prevents it from 
receding, is manifestly absurd. The very reverse is the 
case. Bathing and rubbing with cold water for half an hour at 
a stretch, must have the effect of repelling the peccant matter 
into the system, and of preventing the exudation from taking 
place in any part but where the heating bandages are con- 
stantly applied. Nor, in any instance, was it seen to abridge 
the duration of the paroxysm, which went regularly through 
the stated period of a fortnight. My bath generally con- 
tained from six to ten gallons of water, varying from 
55° to 60° Fahrenheit. The heat of the body of course 
raised the temperature proportion ably to the quantity of water. 
I may repeat, that, in my own case, as, I believe, in most 
others, the utmost attention was paid to those parts of the 
treatment on which Priessnitz placed so much reliance — 
the assiduity and kindness of my friend Captain Wolff in 
seeing his directions punctually carried out, may be cited 
in proof of this. Often, whilst superintending these opera- 
tions, in which he has even condescended to assist, when he 
thought the servants were treating the suffering parts too 
tenderly, although I was actually shouting with pain, would he 
playfully say, " Ah ! criez, mon cher, cela vous fera du bien." 
Nor was I kept less strict with regard to diet. My food 



OF THE WATER CURE. 83 

was all prepared at my kind friend's table, and sent to me 
by his own servant, in exact accordance with the prescribed 
directions. 

I have before remarked, that during the whole of my 
treatment under Priessnitz, and whilst I drank copiously of 
cold water, there was no pink sediment in the urine, so com- 
mon in gout ; but when I commenced the abstinence system, 
recommended by Schrott, and hereafter described, a con- 
siderable deposit took place, together with crystalized uric 
acid. Thus, when the secretory organs were in a state of com- 
parative repose, the kidnies began to elaborate their critical 
secretion ; but, before this, they had, it would seem, suf- 
ficient employment in secreting the excess of watery particles 
without beins* at all engaged with the morbific matter. 
This fact would lead to the conclusion, that the one opera- 
tion interferes with the other ; and that Schrott's treatment 
of this disease is so far the best of the two. I cannot otherwise 
account for the repeated attacks I subsequently experienced, 
than on the hypothesis of the gouty matter having been first 
set in motion, and then repelled into the system, by the too 
frequent and long- continued applications of cold; unless 
it be said, that from my debilitated condition, there was 
not vigour enough in the constitution to throw it off all 
at once. 

Independently of the above-mentioned fact, it does not 
appear that drinking large quantities of cold water has 
the effect of separating and washing out the gouty particles 
from the system. We find that, in cold weather, when the 
cutaneous perspiration is more or less suppressed, a much 
larger quantity of urine is secreted ; but that urine does not 
contain the same proportion of urea as when, in summer, a 
profuse perspiration is going on. There will be a difference 
of from one to eight. In cold weather, the kidnies perform 
in this respect the functions of the skin, by which means 
the superabundance of watery particles is carried off by 

g 2 



84 A TRUE REPORT 

them, in conjunction with the lungs; and upon the same 
principle, — viz. a diminished action of the various organs, — 
that all animals have a greater tendency to accumulate fat in 
cold weather than in warm, the redundancy being then depo- 
sited in that form in the cellular membrane, and thus placed 
out of the system, instead of being carried off by the excretory 
vessels. So that fat is a kind of morbid accumulation, which, 
if retained in the blood, would become noxious and pro- 
ductive of disease. Hence, we may account for the bene- 
ficial effects of pure air, simple food, abstinence, and exercise. 
Es r ery organ, under such circumstances, is brought into full 
play, and every excess, or redundancy, got rid of. The body 
is thus freed from impurity, and acquires a perfectly healthy 
state. Nothing that is noxious remains in the blood ; and, 
therefore, no morbid accumulations are deposited either in 
the cellular membrane, or elsewhere. This effect is perfectly 
well known to those who are accustomed to train animals for 
great muscular exertions, where it is necessary to have them 
in the highest possible condition ; and it is so self-evident, 
that it is needless to say anything more on the subject. 

Perhaps the treatment of Yander Heyden, combined 
with that of Schrott, in cases of gout, with the addition 
of the wet bandages, is safer and more speedy in its opera- 
tion during the paroxysms, than any other at present in 
use. The great objects to be kept in view are — to subdue 
the inflammation, and to expel the morbific or gouty matter 
from the system. Now, the constant application of cold, 
being effectual only to the first of these two objects, it should 
not be continued throughout the whole attack of the disease ; 
nor should it extend to any other than the parts inflamed. 
Cold applications repel the morbific matter into the system, 
and drinking large quantities of cold water does not, 
as we have seen, facilitate its escape by the kidnies. This 
morbific, or gouty matter, consists of urea in some state or 
other of combination ; such, for instance, as uric acid : 



OF THE WATER CURE. 85 

therefore the kiclnies are its natural outlet from the system ; 
and, although other ways, as the sweating process, may be 
made available for its expulsion, still none can be so good as 
the natural one. 

Priessnitzs General Rules for the Treatment of Gout during 
the Paroxysm. — Lying in two or three wet sheets consecu- 
tively, ten or fifteen minutes in each, according to the degree 
of fever or of animal heat, so that the sheets be changed when 
they become warm. On quitting the wet sheets, a demi-bath 
is to be taken, at about 60° or 65° Fahrenheit, from half an 
hour to an hour, dependent on the heat of the body. This is 
to be done just previous to going to bed. In the morning, 
sweating in a blanket and the demi-bath afterwards. Should 
there be much debility, the blanket is to be used only on 
alternate days ; the wet sheet every evening. Where the 
patient is strong and robust, the blanket may be had recourse 
to twice a day, and the half-bath an hour after each sweating. 
If there be much heat, or much fever, the friction in the 
demi-bath may be repeated, at twelve o'clock. The foot-bath 
and hip-bath are not used during the paroxysm. The parts 
affected are enveloped in wet bandages, which are to be 
changed as often as they become hot and dry ; or, they may, 
from time to time, be moistened or wetted on the outside 
with cold water. Gout is not to be treated as a local 
disease, but as affecting the whole system. A rigid diet 
is to be observed during the paroxysm, animal food entirely 
abstained from, and generally but a moderate quantity of 
any taken. 

Priessnitzs Rules to arrest an Attach of the Gout on its first 
Approach. — A demi-bath, with the chill off, for half or three 
quarters of an hour ; the body well rubbed, especially those 
parts of it in which the gout is seated ; but should they 
be too painful to admit of it, then friction is to be applied 
to the neighbouring parts. Friction with cold water every 
evening in the demi-bath, and continued until the sensation 



86 A TRUE REPORT 

of cold is succeeded by a warm glow. Sweating in a blanket 
for an hour, after which a wash in the demi-bath for a minute 
or two, and then a walk out if practicable. 

This practice very much coincides with that anciently 
adopted at the celebrated cold-springs of Willowbridge. The 
long-continued friction with cold water has the eifect of sub- 
duing the symptomatic fever and allaying the local irritation ; 
whilst the copious perspiration that ensues indicates a com- 
plete reaction, and the subsequent washing takes away all 
lassitude and debility consequent upon it. It was on this 
principle that the Indian chief, as mentioned by Mr. Penn in 
his letter to Dr. Baynard, plunged into the river after having 
sweated most profusely in his hot air-bath ; then passed again 
through the heated chamber or oven, wrapped himself up in 
his woollen mantle or blanket, laid himself down at full length 
near a long, but gentle, fire in the middle of his wigwam, and 
turned occasionally, until quite dry, that is, until the reaction 
Avas fully established. This treatment might be very effectual 
in cases of acute rheumatism. 

The " universal water cure" not having been found quite 
so infallible as represented by its " apostle" and admirers, a 
man of the name Schrott, a retired serjeant-major from the 
Austrian service, imagined that an opposite system would be 
more successful, especially in cases where the drenching with 
cold water and cramming with coarse food had signally 
failed. Hence, he opened another " universal remedy estab- 
lishment" at Lindewiese, a small town in the vicinity of 
Graefenberg. His method of treatment is designated the 
" hunger-and-thirst system," and consists principally, as its 
name implies, in abstaining from meat and drink, combined 
with profuse sweating. 

Schrott's Treatment. — The patient is placed in three wet 
sheets, the first coming up only to the arm-pits, so that the 
feet and legs are well covered, each foot and leg separately, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 87 

the other two reaching to the neck, and the whole tightly- 
folded in a blanket, with a feather-bed coverlet. The cham- 
ber is heated to about 80° Fahrenheit. When the perspi- 
ration is going on profusely, a window may be opened 
to let in the fresh air. The patient remains one, two, or 
three hours in this state, according to the strength of his 
constitution. When the coverings are removed, he is well 
rubbed with dry towels, and then returns to bed for an 
hour's repose. Afterwards, he washes his face and hands, 
dresses, slightly breaks his fast, and then takes a good walk. 

Diet. — Water is almost entirely prohibited. The more the 
patient abstains from drink, the more rapid will be the 
cure. If he be feeble, he is allowed the eighth part of a 
pint of wine, mixed with an equal quantity of water, of which 
the half is taken at noon and the remainder in the evening. 
Milk and butter, two of the staple articles of food at Graefen- 
berg, are strictly forbidden. The usual allowance of food is 
five small German rolls during the day. These are about 
half the size of an English penny-roll, and should be stale, 
at least three or four days old. In order that the patient 
may not be completely exhausted by this rigorous treatment, 
he is allowed every third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day, according 
to circumstances, a little soup, roast meat, and some wine. 

The effect of this is, that, in the commencement, a copious 
sediment is thrown down with the urine, which, according 
to its quantity, indicates the progress of the cure. To- 
wards the termination of the course, the urine becomes 
clear, and the deposit ceases. Whenever, under these cir- 
cumstances, a violent diarrhoea supervenes, it is considered to 
be a critical sign, or crisis, and is attributed to the absorp- 
tion which has taken place of the humidity of the wet 
sheets. 

The treatment lasts about six weeks, and is divided into 
three periods, each consisting of a longer or shorter space of 
time, as regulated by circumstances. During the first period, 



88 A TRUE REPORT 

which is considered preparatory, and may last about a week, 
the quantity of nourishment is gradually diminished. During 
the second, which may be three or four weeks, it is pushed to 
the extreme point of hunger and thirst, or abstinence from 
meat and drink. During the third, which will be a week or 
two, it is gradually increased to the usual quantity of food 
taken when in health. All, however, depends upon the 
strength of the constitution, the intensity of the disease, and 
the progress of the cure. If one course of treatment be not 
sufficient to effect the cure, it has to be repeated, which may 
be the case several times. When any eruption, or " crisis," 
makes its appearance, dry bandages, instead of wet ones, are 
applied to the part. 

It is observed, that, under this treatment, notwithstanding 
the small quantity of fluid taken into the system, there is not 
a corresponding diminution in the quantity of urine, the 
latter greatly exceeding the former. Like the " water cure," 
it is carried to the extreme, and indiscriminately applied to 
every case. About three months previous to my arrival, two 
patients were found dead whilst undergoing the sweating 
process — the one having been about ten, the other fourteen 
hours enveloped in the sheets and blankets.. 

Priessnitz, as a matter of course, looks down upon his 
antagonist with supreme contempt, declaring that in no 
instance does he accomplish a cure, but only drives the " bad 
stuff" back into the system, when the disease becomes aggra- 
vated, and returns with tenfold violence For, the " bad stuff," 
says he, " being thus thrown into a heap, boils and ferments 
in the body, and speedily kills the patient." Schrott re- 
torts upon Priessnitz by asserting flatly that he does not 
practise what he preaches, and is therefore an impostor ; 
that he drinks wine in private, regularly takes his coffee 
after his bread-and-milk breakfast, and after dinner his 
glass of brandy ; that the " water cure " is no discovery of 
his ; and that when he accidentally cures a patient, it is by 



OF THE WATER CURE. 89 

sweating and exercise, and not by cold water. He then 
triumphantly appeals to numerous cases of gout, rheumatism, 
and other diseases, which had baffled all Priessnitz's pretended 
knowledge and insight into the human body, but which he him- 
self had cured in a few weeks. After this manner do these 
rival " doctors" carry on the war. 

The hunger-and-thirst system can never become so popular 
as the opposite one. People would much rather risk dying 
from a surfeit, even of such food as Graefenberg affords, than 
dying from starvation. The cravings of nature are not to 
be resisted. Hence it is, that there are so few patients at 
Lindewiese in proportion to what there are at Graefenberg ; 
and whenever a desertion occurs from the latter place, which 
is not unfrequent, not only is Schrott reviled as being a 
drunken sot, and a cheat, but the prayers of the good folks 
of Graefenberg are devoutly offered up, that the deserter 
himself may expiate his offence against the insulted " Genius 
of cold water" as he deserves to do. An occurrence of this 
kind happened during my sojourn at Graefenberg, when 
an Englishman after desertion placed himself under Schrott, 
and derived, at first, considerable benefit from the treat- 
ment ; no sooner, however, had the third stage terminated, 
which restored him to an ad libitum diet, than he o-oro-ed him- 
self to such an excess with that truly German dish, black- 
pudding and sour krout, which was washed down with some 
three or four bottles of sour German wine, than a relapse 
immediately took place. And no wonder. Schrott, as in duty 
bound, discarded him; upon which he wrote a penitential 
letter to Priessnitz, requesting to be re-admitted to the 
" water cure." The contents of this letter being made 
known, the first impression was, that Priessnitz would either 
spurn the renegade's petition, or treat him with silent con- 
tempt. Such, however, was not the case. He penned 
a most paternal answer, gently upbraiding him with a 
want of confidence, but saying that " he would at all 



90 A TRUE REPORT 

times open his arms with pleasure to receive him back into 
his establishment." This was considered a glorious proof not 
only of the one's magnanimity, but of the other's incapacity ! 
The truant returned, and his ready reception, to say the least 
of it, exhibited considerable tact and good policy, as tending 
to ingratiate Priessnitz in the eyes of the English. 

It is reported that Professor Monde wrote an eulogium on 
Schrott's practice, and gave a long list of cases of secondary 
syphilis and others, cured by sweating and abstinence, where 
bad food, and cold water, had failed of success. This interesting 
treatise he presented to Priessnitz, accompanied with the un- 
pleasing alternative, that he would either publish it, or be paid 
two hundred ducats to suppress it ; in which latter case he would 
write another in favour of the " water cure." Priessnitz was too 
good a judge of his own interest not to pay the money. The 
best modern work on the " water cure" is written by Monde. 

On reviewing the practice of Priessnitz, it is plainly per- 
ceptible, that his numerous failures proceed from a total 
ignorance of physiological and medical knowledge. Under 
a modified treatment, with the aid of medicine, more 
favourable results would be realized. Ingrassias, in his 
treatise " De Aquae Potu post Medecinam," has, to a great 
extent, proved this assertion. Medicine, thus diluted, would 
be more readily disseminated through every part of the 
system, whilst the increased action of the skin and other 
secretory organs, under the influence of air, exercise, and diet, 
would greatly assist its operation. When any unfavourable 
symptoms manifested themselves, such as a tendency to con- 
gestion, a high degree of feverish excitement, or constipation, 
they would be immediately relieved, and the balance of the 
circulation properly adjusted. I have not the slightest doubt 
that the treatment admits, to a certain extent, of this union ; 
but it is a weak and erroneous argument to contend that, 
because there is an uncertainty in the operation of medicine, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 91 

medicine is therefore utterly useless ; or that a patient is never 
cured by it, who, if left to the unassisted efforts of nature, 
would inevitably have perished. The following observation 
of Sir John Floyer on cold bathing is peculiarly applicable 
to the subject. " I find," says he, " cold-baths relieve the 
rheumatic pains by driving the humours stagnating in the 
limbs into the circulating vessels again, and that by sweating 
afterwards they are readily evacuated ; therefore I find that 
sweating is necessary in bathing for rheumatism. And I 
also observe that evacuations and alteratives are as necessary, 
as the disease indicates, as bathing, and, therefore, I believe 
cold bathing can never be made a quack medicine to be pre- 
scribed alone, nor be used for all diseases ; but according to 
physical indications in company with other medicines, and 
then they will perform great cures." 

Whether the eruption of boils, so much relied upon at 
Graefenberg as the harbinger of health, are to be considered 
critical, or necessarily connected with the peccant humours 
of a previous disease, is a subject that requires some investi- 
gation. The sudden change of diet, the disuse of warm 
clothing, the frequent application of cold water to the surface 
of the body, and the large quantity of it drank, may alone be 
sufficient to account for their appearance. For similar rea- 
sons, children, especially those w T ho, having been accustomed 
to warmth and a generous diet at home, are suddenly exposed 
to cold and a different diet at school, are subject to boils. In 
such instances, as with the " water treatment," the boils are 
ushered in with shivering and other symptoms of feverish 
excitement. The first that makes its appearance is generally 
larger and more painful than the rest, and is therefore termed 
the " mother boil." They are further considered healthy, 
as indicating a sufficient strength of constitution thus to 
throw out the bad humours, instead of suffering; them to affect 
some important organ, as the lungs or abdominal viscera. 
For this reason, they may be said to be critical, as far as 



92 A TRUE REPORT 

relates to the sudden change of diet, &c. 3 but not as being 
necessarily connected with the peccant matter of some pre- 
vious disease ; and hence it is that children generally enjoy 
better health after, than just before their eruption, the system 
having then become seasoned or accustomed to the altered 
state of things. 

It may also be observed, that well-conditioned cattle, when 
suddenly turned upon scanty pasture, and exposed to cold 
and wet, are subject to similar eruptions, which unsophisti- 
cated country people rightly ascribe to the want of good 
keep impoverishing the blood and rendering it thin and 
watery. In this case, as with ourselves, these breakings-out 
are sometimes the step by which nature accommodates 
herself to the hasty transition imposed upon her. Nor 
will it follow, as a matter of course, that the vesicular erup- 
tions caused by the action of the moist, or heating bandages, 
are in every case productive of benefit. That they are 
beneficial in local complaints, by opening a way in which the 
impurities of the blood may be more readily thrown off, has 
been fully proved. In my own case, this evidently took place 
to a considerable extent, and any one suffering from sore 
throat, pains in the joints, lumbago, or any other local disorder, 
may obtain speedy relief from them, without incurring the 
slightest risk. 

In the present mode of treating disease, the doctrines of 
" crisis," and the humoral pathology, are almost wholly dis- 
regarded ; but since the " water cure " rests its claim entirely 
upon these, I shall give them some consideration. This will 
necessarily lead me to debateable ground ; but, by confining 
myself as much as possible to facts, and avoiding theories, 
I may, I think, arrive at a tolerably safe conclusion. It has 
been justly observed, that the best mode of acquiring a know- 
ledge of disease is by being a passive spectator, watching its 
progress, and noting the changes, whether they may terminate 
in recovery or death. When disease is thus left to itself, it 



OF THE WATER CURE. 93 

will generally be found, that it assumes the simplest or least 
complicated form, and that nature manifests a marked though 
often unavailing effort to throw it off in some one particular 
direction. Should she succeed in doing so, the manner in 
which it is performed has been termed a " crisis." A know- 
ledge of the way in which this is effected, is of the greatest 
utility to the physician, inasmuch as it often enables him to 
accomplish by art that which nature, unassisted, is unable to 
perform. The assistance rendered by him generally consists 
in stimulating* and directing the vital energies towards some 
excretory organ ; and, should the system be thus relieved, 
the evacuation is also designated "critical." And hence it is, 
that the greater part of the remedies employed, such as 
cathartics, diuretics, diaploretics, &c, are necessarily of a 
stimulating character. In endeavouring to bring about this 
" crisis," nature usually selects but one path at a time, and 
the physician, as her servant, ought to cooperate with her. 
But nature, now-a-days, is by many considered as an old 
woman, incapable of helping herself, and therefore her 
admonitions are despised, her boundaries overstepped, and 
her indications disregarded ; and so an attempt is made to go 
beyond, instead of following in her train. By this mode, an 
endeavour is made to force a cure, instead of enlisting her 
efforts in the cause ; and thus it is that the vital powers are 
diverted to various points at once ; as, for example, to the 
skin, the kidnies, and intestines, all of which are simul- 
taneously stimulated to produce their own peculiar evacua- 
tions. Thus, nature is neither allowed to select her own 
path, nor yet to concentrate her powers on one point, but is 
so baffled by aiming at too much, that either nothing is done, 
or something worse than nothing. Meanwhile, the disease 
progresses, and being driven from its original simplicity by 
the confusion thus created, it becomes so complicated that it 
gives rise to a new train of symptoms, betokening a new 
disease. In this manner it is, that medicines, in their opera- 



y4 A TRUE REPORT 

tions, are frequently made to counteract, instead of abetting 
the salutary efforts of nature. 

There is no doubt that these critical evacuations take place 
oftener in acute than in chronic diseases, in which latter the 
causa morbi appears to be in a semi-dormant state, as Priessnitz 
calls it, and from which, he argues, it must be brought back 
to its original acute form before the " crisis " can be induced, 
or the cure effected. How far his assertion is correct, that 
every chronic disease was previously acute, is more than 
doubtful. That such is the case with many chronic diseases 
is readily admitted ; but that there are many also, which, by 
accumulation, have arrived at the chronic form, without 
having ever been acute at all, is alike unquestionable. 

Gouty matter will go on accumulating in the system until 
a paroxysm, or critical discharge, takes place ; i. e. until 
nature makes that effort to relieve herself of it ; and, if there 
be not sufficient energy left in the constitution to effect this, 
it must ultimately destroy life. It is a Graefenberg doctrine, 
that the feverish excitement, produced by the " water treat- 
ment," is the precursor of the " crisis " which is to carry off 
the disease; and the inflammation caused by the heating 
bandages is viewed in the same light. The state of the body 
during the intervals of the attacks is termed the chronic form, 
when the "bad stuff" is lying dormant; and the paroxysm 
the acute .form, when it is being discharged. 

That accumulated peccant matter occasions disease, and 
that it must be expelled the system before the patient can be 
cured, is in perfect accordance with the theory and observa- 
tions of all the older physicians. In order to expel it, the 
vital energies, as before observed, must be stimulated or 
excited, by some means or other, to make a more than 
ordinary effort to force it into the excretory ducts. Now, 
the sudden application of cold to the surface of the body, 
has a powerfully stimulating effect, and the reaction, which 
takes place in consequence of it, frees the skin from 



OF THE WATER CURE. 95 

obstructions, and enables it to perform its proper functions ; 
by which means the digestive and other organs are less 
oppressed. Again, by profuse perspiration, the circulation 
of the blood is freely carried into the small exhalent vessels, 
with which the system abounds, and thus an opportunity is 
afforded for the escape of those impurities which were the 
cause of the disease. And lastly, every business occupation 
being for a time laid aside, and the patient diverted with the 
pleasing pursuit of health, the mind becomes cheerfully 
excited, and thus, in conjunction with good air, exercise, 
and a moderate diet, exerts a powerful influence also over 
the body. 

In many diseases, there is a strong disposition on the part 
of nature to get rid of the morbific matter by the skin. 
This may be observed in several acute diseases, especially 
the exanthemata, in which the fever, caused by the irritation 
produced upon the nervous system by the imbibed miasma, 
was held to be expedient to bring about this salutary effect. 
According to the humoral pathology, the fever is necessarily 
a preliminary step towards maturing the " coction " of the 
humours, without which the expulsion of the miasma of the 
disease, or morbific matter, could not be accomplished. This 
"coction" was supposed to soften down the crudities or 
acridity of the peccant matter, so as to render it bland 
and consistent. Thus, in an ordinary cold or coryza, the 
first secretion and discharge from the nose, is a thin, aqueous, 
transparent, acrid lymph, which, although resembling water, 
is extremely irritating — blistering, excoriating and ulcerating 
the skin of the adjacent parts, wherever it may happen 
to come in contact with it. As the cold passes off, this 
discharge becomes more copious, consistent, and opaque, of 
a white, or yellowish-white colour, and perfectly bland. 
The same thing takes place in common boils or abscesses ; 
the peccant matter is first of all an acrid, aqueous lymph, 
exciting much pain and inflammation, which gradually 



96 A TRUE REPORT 

abates as the suppuration proceeds, or the " coction " is com- 
pleted, and which is also indicated by the consistency it 
assumes; — hence, the expression is retained to the present 
day, that " laudable pus " should be " album, lasve et 
equale." 

There can be little doubt that, in the various exanthemata, 
the eruptive fever is caused by the morbific matter entering 
and irritating the system ; and which is probably the case 
with every other description of fever, so that they may all 
be termed symptomatic; but, whether the fever be necessary 
for the "coction" or maturation of the morbific matter, or 
whether it constitute a part of the disease, is by no means 
so clear. 

In a great many diseases, especially those in which the 
mucous membrane is the tissue principally affected, there is 
an evident tendency to throw off the morbific matter by the 
skin. Thus, in cases of indigestion causing urticaria, the 
skin becomes affected to the great relief of the digestive 
organs ; and also, in typhus and other fevers, a cure is often 
spontaneously effected by a profuse sweat. 

The doctrine of " crisis " and " critical days" has of late 
years fallen into undeserved neglect and disrepute, which, 
doubtless, is to be accounted for by the altered system in 
the practice of physic, particularly that part of it which has 
to do with the administering of more potent and complicated 
remedies, with more diversified intentions, than was formerly 
the case. Hence, a " crisis " either does not take place at all, 
or does so but very imperfectly, and the physician, who de- 
pends upon it now-a-days for success, is considered to be at 
least a century behind the times. It seems strange, however, 
that all the older physicians, from Hippocrates downwards, 
who were pretty accurate observers of nature, and whose 
descriptions of diseases are even now the best that we 
possess, should have laid such stress on the expediency of 
eliciting the "crisis," and watching the period at which it 



OF THE WATER CURE. 97 

takes place, had the doctrine been so utterly useless as many- 
contend. 

The theory of fever being necessary to promote the 
"coction," and thus cure the disease— mistaking the effect 
for the cause — was the great stumbling-block of the hu- 
moral pathology. As fevers frequently pass off of them- 
selves by a profuse " critical " perspiration, so may eruptions 
and some cutaneous affections be the " critical " expul- 
sions of other diseases. Nature, ever watchful in protecting 
the vital organs, wards off from them a fatal attack by 
diverting its course to some less susceptible part ; perhaps, 
the secondary stage of syphilis, and that form of the disease 
which results from the abuse of mercury, are exemplifications 
of this. This notion is strengthened by the fact, that these 
diseases are cured more speedily in warm, than in cold 
weather ; and that certain sudorifics, such as guaiacum or the 
lignum sanctum, sarsaparilla, and the celebrated Lisbon diet 
drink, were formerly held in high estimation by surgeons 
and physicians, in their treatment of them. A gentleman 
of my acquaintance, who has extensive practice in this 
disease, recommends his patients to remain in bed whilst 
under the influence of mercury for the cure of secondary 
symptoms, and to drink daily three or four quarts of weak 
broth ; and for a similar reason it was, that when the mode 
of administering mercury was very little understood, despe- 
rate cases were sent off to Montpelier, where the physicians 
had acquired a considerable reputation for the cure of this 
disease, — the air being pure, dry and warm, greatly promoted 
the action of the skin. 

The operations of nature are simple and uniform. The 
ways in which she disembarrasses herself, are limited, as 
before observed, to the use of one at a time, and are by no 
means numerous. Hence, inflammatory action, no matter 
where it may be situated, is always to be subdued by a 
like mode of treatment ; and the same argument applies to 

H 



98 A TRUE REPORT 

most other descriptions of disease. Those which affect the 
nervous system, are frequently beyond the reach of art ; and, 
if curable, are only so by length of time, and by an entire 
change of living — that is, the total abandonment of those 
habits which have induced the disease. 

It may be questioned, whether the potent chemical prepa- 
rations and drastic purgatives, which are now so freely 
administered in this country, and which have obtained for 
our physicians, from their Gallic neighbours, the significant 
soubriquet of " Messieurs les Purgons d'Angleterre," are 
more efficient in the cure of diseases, than those gentler reme- 
dies which, with a strict regimen, were formerly employed. 
Perhaps, the additional light which morbid anatomy has, of 
late years, thrown upon pathology, or the physiology of 
disease, tending to rescue it so much from the trammels of 
theory, may ultimately lead to the adoption of a milder and 
more uniform treatment than is at present in use ; nor is it at 
all improbable, that cold water, judiciously applied as a sedative 
and antiphlogistic, or as a stimulant and re-agent, may form 
a portion of so desirable a change. 

I am of opinion, that the sudden application of cold water 
to the surface of the body is not limited to a merely negative 
action, such as the simple abstraction of caloric, or the reduc- 
tion of the temperature of the body ; nor to the merely mecha- 
nical one of constringing the capillary and other vessels, so as 
to diminish their capacity, and cause the blood to be squeezed 
out of them into the larger vessels, or those towards the inte- 
rior ; but, that it exerts also a direct and positive influence, 
by galvanism, on the nerves themselves. When two bodies 
of different temperatures are brought into juxta-position, as 
with two plane surfaces, a voltaic or galvanic action is in- 
stantly excited ; and the greater their difference of tempera- 
ture, not approaching to incandescence, the more powerful 
will be this effect. Hence, the sudden application of cold 
water may act on the system with a voltaic energy, sending 



OF THE WATER CURE. 99 

a vibratory thrill through every nerve, even the most minute. 
On this supposition, we can readily explain why it rouses the 
system in a most remarkable manner, in cases of stupor, 
from whatever cause almost it may proceed, as is especially 
manifested in cases of asphyxia from carbonic acid gas. The 
experimentalized dogs of the Grotta del Cano are immediately 
restored on immersion. When the surface of the body is of 
a low temperature, and it is suddenly plunged into a hot bath, 
at 106° or 110° Fahrenheit, a similar effect is produced, which 
is speedily succeeded by a most violent reaction. Whence can 
this arise, but from a galvanic action, or something approach- 
ing to it ? * 

* Since writing the above, I find that Dr. Jackson, in his Treatise on Cold 
Affusions for Fevers, has entertained a similar opinion, namely, that " some- 
thing belongs peculiarly to cold water as a medium, which, condensing power, 
augments impression by momentum, and which, giving impulse, also supplies 
power to enable the organization to sustain the subsequent action effectively 
and vigorously through its course. In this manner it is often observed that a 
person remains torpid in a faint, the animation suspended as in death while 
exposed freely in the cool and open air. He is roused to sensation, and moved 
into action, by the aspersion or affusion of water of the same, or nearly of the 
same temperature, with that of the air in which he lies motionless. This fact 
seems to imply that there is something in the water itself, or in the force with 
which the application of it is made, abstractedly from its mere cold, which 
conduces to the production of the effect stated. We may remark, that where 
the extremities or other parts of the body suffer from exposure to cold, in a dry 
atmosphere, in such a manner as to become painful, the act of immersing 
them in water, or of washing them in water of a like or lower temperature 
than that of the surrounding air, removes the pain speedily ; nay, farther, the 
act of rubbing benumbed parts with snow or ice restores sense, life, and heat 
instantly. It is likewise known that a shower of rain, or aspersion of the 
animal body with cool or cold water, refreshes the animal, whether man or 
beast, when exhausted with labour or worn down with fatigue, in a degree 
very different from that which arises from change of temperature without the 
addition of the moisture. Soldiers better support long marches in continued 
rain, under all the disadvantages of deep and bad roads, than in weather of the 
same temperature without rain, and on roads in the best condition. It is even 
seen that where they are fatigued and exhausted, nay, fainting with toil, a 
shower of rain coming opportunely revives them suddenly, and enables them 
to prosecute the march with vigour and alacrity. This is a well-ascertained 
fact ; and it seems fair to infer from it, that there is something in the water 
itself, as well as in its temperature, which applied to the body of the febrile 

H 2 



100 A TRUE REPORT 

Admitting this to be the case, we can easily conceive that 
cold water, so applied, is one of the most powerful stimulants 
that can be used. It seems to act as if the nervous influence 
of the entire system were suddenly repelled and concentrated 
by it ; and should it be so, we may form some idea of the way 
in which reaction takes place ; for the repelling power being 
removed, and the nervous fibrillar being greatly stimulated, the 
nervous influence returns with a vis resiliendi, overcoming the 
spasmodic barrier at the extremity of the vessels, and carry- 
ing the blood along with it into the capillaries, where the 
halitus is poured forth in the form of sensible or insensible 
perspiration, as the case may be. In the same manner, when 
certain emotions of the mind react upon the body, the blood 
is impelled in particular directions by the nervous influence, 
as is observed in the blush of shame, and in the increased 
secretions which succeed fear, anger, and the hysterical 
passion. 

If cold be a powerful stimulant when suddenly applied 
and suddenly removed, and this, too, in proportion to the dif- 
ference of temperature between the body and the water with 
which it is brought into contact, so, on the other hand, is it 
an equally powerful sedative during the time of application ; 
and in cases where the nervous energy is much exhausted, 
the reaction takes place but feebly, if at all, so that the 
congestion, caused by the mechanical effect of cold, will 



subject, makes peculiar impression on organic life, and which, while it im- 
presses organism so as to change its condition and to move its action into a 
new channel, supplies the material which enables it to continue its operations 
with vigour and effect through its whole series of connexion. From hence 
it appears, if not demonstrative, at least more than probable, that cold 
water, affused upon the surface of the febrile subject, produces its salutary- 
effect in virtue of some other property than tbat of cold simply subtracting 
or reducing increased heat ; for it produces salutary effect when there is no 
evidence that increased heat exists in the subject of the experiment. If cold 
water, then, do not act by subtracting heat simply, it is plain that simple cold 
is not the property through which the salutary change is effected." — Page 341, 
et seq. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 101 

remain. For this reason it is, that reaction is always most 
perfect in those persons who are robust, and enjoy a high 
degree of animal life. 

As reaction, and all the functions of life, depend entirely 
on the nervous influence, it becomes a question of the first 
importance, whence this influence is derived ? Now, as the 
blood is truly said to be the pabulum corporis, it must, there- 
fore, be secreted from this common source of nutrition ; and 
since the solution of this question cannot be explained upon 
any other principle, it must be sought for in the chemical 
process of decarbonization ; that is, in the function of respira- 
tion, which from the same source furnishes the elements of 
animal heat. If we admit the vis nervosa to be analogous to 
the electric fluids, and that caloric is a substance compounded 
of those fluids, we may perhaps be able to explain the deve- 
lopment of these phenomena. Electricity, like caloric, exists 
in all bodies in a latent as w T ell as in a free state ; no chemical 
action can take place without its manifestation ; it is of itself 
the most powerful chemical agent, and there is every reason 
to believe it to be the immediate or proximate cause of such 
action. Thus it is, that during combustion the latent 
vitreous, or positive fluid of the oxygen, and the latent 
resinous, or negative fluid of the inflammable base, separating 
from their respective particles by predisposing affinity, com- 
bine, at the same time producing heat and light; whilst 
the bodies themselves also combine, forming water, carbonic 
acid, &c, the whole process being in accordance with the laws 
of double decomposition. When the opposite poles of the gal- 
vanic battery are brought into juxta-position, heat and light 
are developed or generated as the results of simple combina- 
tion. In like manner, during respiration, as during combus- 
tion, the chemical action which takes place between the oxygen 
and the carbon, must necessarily be attended with similar 
chemical results, only modified by vital action. The latent 
electricity of the inhaled oxygen is absorbed into the blood, and 



102 A TRUE REPORT 

that of the nascent carbon is left behind, both about to produce 
animal heat, and at the same time to afford fresh materials for 
regenerating the nervous energy. Modified or guarded by vital 
action, no sudden combustion, or simultaneous combination, 
takes place ; for were it so, life itself would be suddenly de- 
stroyed.* The temperature of the blood in the arteries becomes 
slightly elevated, and the globules change their colour, not from 
the loss of carbon ; for, if venous blood is exposed, even in a 
bladder, to the action of carburetted hydrogen gas, a some- 
what similar change in colour takes place, and the surface in 
contact with the bladder, or with the gas, assumes a bright 
vermilion hue; neither can the colour be attributed to the 
presence of iron, but may perhaps be found to depend upon 
the change of the electrical condition of the globules them- 

* In telluric electricity, the fluids or electric energies are in a low state of 
combination, readily separated by friction. In this state they may be supposed 
to exist in the blood, a part only combining to form caloric in the arteries 
themselves, the principal action being reserved for the capillaries, where secre- 
tion and the vital functions are performed. A similar low state of combination 
exists also amongst the gases of the atmosphere, which are not mechanically 
mixed, but chemically combined. Thus, suppose the red globules, after their 
passage through the lungs, to be in a state of insulated electricity, with their, 
negative and positive poles, we may readily conceive the electric fluid to be 
extricated during the passage of these globules through the capillaries, to be in 
part appropriated by the nerves, as the vis nervosa, and in part to be directed 
upon those universal points where the chemico-vital action of reparation or 
nutrition, and the generation of animal heat, are constantly going on. Thus the 
food not only supplies the materials to repair the body, but also the negative 
electricity, which perhaps constitutes the vis insita of the muscles, whilst the 
oxygen of the air we breathe supplies the positive electricity, and at the same 
time purifies the blood, by carrying off the superfluous carbon. The relative 
proportion of oxygen being thus greatly augmented by the liberation of the 
carbon, this act of decarbonization sufficiently explains why arterial blood 
should be richer in oxygenous compounds or products than the venous blood, 
without having recourse to the theory that any absorption of oxygen actually 
takes place ; for after deducting the loss of the carbon, and that proportion of 
oxygen which combines with the hydrogen in the formation of water, not only 
is the quantity of oxygen consumed fully accounted for, but the quantity con- 
tained in the oxygenous compounds is precisely the same in the venous as 
in the arterial blood ; or in other words, the absolute quantity of oxygen is the 
same in both. 



OF THE WATER CURL. 103 

selves, and the state of chemical combination arising from 
that condition. To enter more at large into this theory, 
which formed the subject of my inaugural dissertation, " De 
Calorico," published in the year 1818, would lead me astray 
from my present purpose. This view of respiration suffi- 
ciently explains the phenomena of which we are speaking, so 
that the air we breathe may be truly said to be the " breath 
of life," for with it we inhale the vivifying principle, or that 
which is necessary to support the functions of the system, 
and brinsr about all those chemical changes which are con- 
tinually going on within the laboratory of the body. If life 
be dependent on organization, these functions must constitute 
it ; and if organization be one of the properties of the living 
principle, we need seek no farther; for truly has it also 
been said, that " the life of the animal is in the blood 
thereof." 

Thus, the blood, renovated by assimilated chyle, and ren- 
dered fit for use by its passage through the lungs, becomes 
not only the source from whence the body is furnished with 
materials to supply the loss arising from its wear and tear, 
but also the source from whence the nerves themselves derive 
their subtle energy — the proximate cause of chemico-vital 
action — which is directed along their innumerable conducting 
fibrillce, as so many fine-drawn wires, to every the minutest 
point, carrying off the waste materials and supplying the 
new ; thus keeping the machine in constant repair. Possess- 
ing within itself the means of continual reparation and of 
continual motion, this wonderful piece of mechanism seems, 
at first sight, calculated to endure to all eternity, — and it 
might have been so as easily as otherwise. But the germs of 
life and death are born together ; and, as a watch wound up 
can only go for a stated period, beginning from the first 
moment to unwind itself, so may we be said from our very 
birth to begin to die. 

" Nascentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet." 



104 A TRUE REPORT 

The importance of an organ may be estimated by the 
quantity of blood directed towards it ; and, if we take into 
consideration the great abundance of blood sent to the ganglia 
and plexuses of the nerves, and to the brain itself, we must 
conclude that the secretion is proportionable to the quantity 
sent ; and since these organs are comparatively small, it can- 
not all be for the mere purpose of nutrition. If, then, we 
ask, What is it that is secreted? the reply must be, that 
which is peculiar to them — the vis nervosa. When the func- 
tions of any part of the body, or of any organ, are exercised 
beyond what is usual, the quantity of blood determined 
towards that part is proportionably increased. Thus, during 
the intellectual labours of the brain, this not only occurs, but, 
from the elaboration of ideas pictured thereon, the expen- 
diture of the vis nervosa becomes as great and as exhausting 
by intense study, as by long-continued muscular exertion. 
Thus, after a full meal, a determination of blood is not only 
directed upon the stomach and the other viscera connected 
with digestion, but also upon the great solar or cardiac plexus 
which supplies the nervous energy ; during which process the 
blood is withdrawn from the surface, when the individual 
experiences a shivering sensation, and is more or less incapable 
of exertion, whether mental or corporeal, so that repose is 
necessary ; and thus, during muscular labour, the blood is not 
only sent in greater abundance towards those particular 
muscles which are called into action, to afford the vis insita 
of contractility, but the nervous energy is also directed upon 
them by the impulse of volition ;* and this, as in the other 

* The continued action of any sets of muscles, after they are once put in 
motion, does not seem to depend altogether on volition. Ostriches decapitated 
whilst running, still continue to run ; and birds shot through the brain still 
continue to fly, until the nervous energy is exhausted. The habit of any action 
being acquired, it seems only necessary to be excited by volition, and is then 
carried on without particular attention, or any further effort of the mind, as 
walking, dancing, or running ; or as playing, singing, reading the music and 
the words of the song — the action goes on, like a spring set in motion, and does 



OF THE WATER CURE. 105 

cases, at the expense of every other part of the body, 
inducing great lassitude and exhaustion. From hence we 
infer that the nervous energy determines the current of the 
blood ; that the points upon which it is directed are absorbing 
centres ; that the same law prevails as in crisis ; for as no two 
critical evacuations can take place at the same time, neither 
can two absorbing centres co-exist ; and hence the functions 
of the brain, of digestion, and of locomotion, or muscular 
action, are opposed to each other.* 

It is impossible to ascertain what quantity of blood is 
apportioned to the nervous system ; but, judging from the 
large quantity sent to the brain, it must be very great. On 
its return from the brain, as elsewhere, after having passed 
through the capillaries, it has become venous, showing that 
it has lost that peculiar property, which it had acquired during 
its passage through the lungs. If we look upon the nervous 
system as the animal ipsissimum, which the " spiritus intus 
alit," and of which the body is the mere tenement or frame- 
work, we need not be surprised that so large a proportion of 
blood is required to afford a constant supply of that energy 
for which there is such a constant demand. When this 
demand is diminished by the system being in a state of com- 
parative repose, as during sleep, the pulse and respiration 
become slower, fuller, and deeper; the brain, the nerves, 



not cease immediately. Hence it often requires a great effort of volition to 
arrest the impulse which has heen given ; and as the muscles of locomotion 
continue to act after the head is separated from the body, so consciousness of 
existence may continue within this organ after it has been suddenly removed, 
as by the guillotine. 

* It is highly probable that the nervous energy operates in a manner similar 
to galvanism or electricity ; we find the brain is composed of two distinct sub- 
stances, from whence we may presume they are intended to act upon each other 
in the elaboration of thought : and the vis insita of the muscular fibre is a dif- 
ferent energy to that propelled by the nerves, and becomes exhausted, either by 
repeated galvanic shocks, or by great muscular exertion ; hence the muscles of 
animals hunted to death, are relaxed and tender ; and hence a salmon, killed by 
the rod, will not crimp. 



106 A TRUE REPORT 

and their reservoirs, as the ganglia and plexuses, are re- 
plenished, and we arise in the morning invigorated and 
refreshed. 

During the irritation of disease, a similar determination of 
the nervous energy may be observed. Thus, when the 
poisonous miasmata of contagion are absorbed, the rigor is 
the first symptom of the impending fever ; and the degree of 
reaction, that is, the intensity of the fever, is precisely in 
proportion to the extent of the rigor. This clearly indicates 
that the nervous system is affected by the morbid condition 
of the blood, and that the whole of the energy is directed 
upon the capillary vessels in order to expel the morbific 
cause. Perfectissima fit sudoribus febris solutio, is a maxim of 
great antiquity ; and it is here where cold affusions, cold 
bathing, and cooling draughts, are of such inestimable value. 
All the secretions are in the mean time suppressed on account 
of the universal spasm affecting the extreme vessels ; whilst 
nature, intent on one object at a time, directs her efforts to 
burst the barrier; and as soon as an outlet is discovered, the 
critical evacuation takes place solely from that point, and the 
secretions are restored to their normal state. On whatever 
disease we turn our attention, similar facts present them- 
selves. In diseases of the humoral pathology the blood 
becomes vitiated ; and should the peccant matter not be 
expelled, it is ultimately disorganized or broken down, as in 
a severe typhus or putrid fever ; in a common cut or prick, a 
similar determination of the nervous energy is observed ; and 
the same determination may also be noticed during strong 
emotions of the mind, especially such as are sudden ; and for 
the like reason a sudden blow on the thumb-nail will not 
unfrequently cause sickness and syncope, the same as from a 
sudden shock. In which case it seems as if the nervous 
energy were directed on the injured part at the expense of 
the brain ; and in like manner during the paroxysm of any 
depressing passion it is directed to some other organ, so that 



OF THE WATER CURE. 107 

the brain itself may not become paralyzed by the violence of 
the action. 

From these, and other facts, which might be adduced, we 
may arrive at the following conclusions : — 1st, That the vivi- 
fying principle of the blood is derived from the air we 
breathe ; 2dly, That this principle is afterward secreted by 
the nerves, and converted into the vis nervosa ; and 3dly, 
That it constitutes the difference between venous and arte- 
rial blood, so that, when secreted or separated, the blood 
becomes venous. From them we also learn, — 1st, That cur- 
rents of this energy are directed upon certain points or 
organs as circumstances may require, both in health and in 
disease ; 2clly, That these points or organs become, for the 
time being, centres of absorption or attraction, at the expense 
of the other parts of the system ; 3dly, That these currents 
are never directed upon two organs, or that there are never 
two centres of attraction at one and the same time ; 4thly, and 
lastly, that the increased determination of blood and develop- 
ment of animal heat are dependent on these currents of the 
vis nervosa. 

These conclusions throw some light on the treatment of 
disease, both chronic and acute. They explain the salutary 
action of evacuants or counter-irritants in promoting the 
critical evacuation, and how, by diverting the nervous cur- 
rent, they change the action of disease. They also point out 
how cautious we ought to be not to attempt too much, or to 
interfere with the salutary efforts of nature by so doing. 
From them we may infer, as is borne out by the fact, that 
the best method of supplying the system with this vivifying 
principle, is by taking exercise in the pure and open air ; and, 
as the air of the mountain is more pure than that of the 
valley, so is it the more invigorating. From them we dis- 
cover the reason why excess is injurious, since any organ 
over-stimulated exhausts the nervous energy of the system, 
as an absorbing centre of attraction, and produces the relaxa- 



108 A TRUE REPORT 

tion of debility. Thus excessive repletion weakens the 
stomach, intense study fatigues the brain, and immoderate 
exercise relaxes the wearied muscles, whilst every part suf- 
fers from being drained of its due proportion of this influ- 
ence in order to supply the unusual demand of the part over- 
stimulated. For this reason the stomach refuses to perform 
its functions, and the brain to exercise its faculties, when the 
muscles are wearied with laborious exertion. 

As every organ is given to man for some special purpose, 
so should each be exercised in due proportion ; and this is not 
only conducive to health, but even necessary towards its pre- 
servation : and should any organ be unduly exercised, and 
the others remain in a state of comparative repose, it is inva- 
riably at the expense of the rest of the system. Thus, when 
the brain alone is exercised, and the muscles never called into 
action, they become feeble ; and when the muscles are con- 
stantly exercised, the brain being totally unemployed, the 
man degenerates almost into a mere beast of burden, unable 
to exercise the faculties of the mind. By the due exercise of 
each, all are invigorated and more fully developed. The 
blood being directed in its course to each in its turn by the 
current of nervous energy, all the parts are better nourished, 
and, by daily exercise, acquire increased strength. This is 
well known in gymnastics, and is equally applicable to the 
brain. On the other hand, exhaustion, from whatever cause, 
is invariably followed by feverish excitement or reaction. It 
is thus that even in health the slight stimulus of the func- 
tions of life during the day is followed by a degree of fever 
and an accelerated pulse towards the evening, indicating the 
period of repose ; whilst in disease this becomes more 
strongly marked, with a higher degree of exacerbation. The 
frequent stimulus of reaction operates in the same way, and 
gives rise to the fever which accompanies the water treat- 
ment. 

Since the skin, to a more limited extent, performs the same 



OF THE WATER CURE. 109 

functions as the lungs, so to that extent we may be said to 
breathe by the one as well as by the other. The same chemi- 
cal change takes place ; the venous blood is to a certain ex- 
tent arterialized. This alone points out its great importance, 
and the benefits to be derived from cleanliness, friction, and 
free exposure to the air ; and perhaps from the well-known 
chemical effects of the rays of light, its access might greatly 
promote the salutary action of the air. In consequence of 
this similarity of functions, a great sympathy exists between 
these two important organs. A talented surgeon informed me 
that a patient was received into the hospital to which he is 
atttached, who had laboured for several weeks under great 
difficulty and oppression in breathing. Being in a dirty and 
destitute condition, he was, as is usual, ordered to be washed ; 
on being stripped, the skin was found completely encrusted 
with filth; he was well scrubbed in the bath, put to bed, 
slept soundly, and the next morning arose perfectly free from 
his complaint, and was therefore discharged. 

An intimate knowledge of physiology is indispensable to 
the physician; yet it unfortunately happens that the practice 
of physic in our present state of knowledge, is necessarily 
directed rather against the symptoms, than against the dis- 
ease itself ; which, being a proximate cause, eludes our inves- 
tigation. It is this obscurity which gives rise to so much 
uncertainty, and to the varieties of opinion which prevail in 
the choice of remedies, and in the treatment of the disease. 
To render the classification of diseases more simple, and the 
art of healing more uniform, would be the greatest boon that 
could be conferred on society ; and the water treatment 
certainly contributes towards this desirable end ; for as the 
functions of life depend on the nervous system, so must the 
disturbed or diseased state of those functions be as intimately 
connected with it. This method of treating diseases not only 
enables us to arouse the energy of the nerves in the highest 
degree, but also of directing that energy upon any given 



110 A TRUE REPORT 

point ; and thence to overcome the diseased action, and to 
expel the peccant matter. Being combined with air, exercise, 
and diet, it can scarcely fail of being more or less efficacious 
in nearly every chronic disease, whether it depends upon a 
vitiated state of the fluids, or is purely seated in the nerves 
themselves. It has been justly said by Cadogan, in his 
admirable dissertation on chronic diseases, that gout, and the 
great majority of these diseases, are brought on by indolence, 
intemperance, and vexation. It is therefore clear that dis- 
eases which are brought on by sloth and over-feeding, can 
only be radically cured by abstemiousness and exercise. Con- 
traria contrariis curantur, is the axiom of Hippocrates ; and 
Aristotle's simile of the crooked stick requiring to be kept 
some time bent in the opposite direction in order to bring it 
straight, holds as true in healing the diseased condition of the 
body, as in correcting the evil tendency of the mind. In 
nearly every disease, whether chronic or acute, regimen acts 
a most conspicuous part. Celsus informs us that he has 
known many very acute diseases pass off spontaneously by 
rest and total abstinence. " Multi magni morbi curantur 
abstinentia, et quiete." Dr. Hancock, Father Bernardo, 
Nicolo Crescenzo, and many others, cured them in this 
way, combined with the internal use of cold water. 

The medicinal use of cold water either arrests the inor- 
dinate action of the heart and arteries, or stimulates their 
energies, as may be desired ; it resolves the spasm, allays 
irritation, provokes perspiration, excites the kidnies, and 
gives a tone to the stomach. When topically applied by the 
heating bandage, it removes the epidermis, produces inflam- 
mation, and draws down the humours. Thus we may derive 
from it all the effects of sedatives, antispasmodics, diapho- 
retics, diuretics, and tonics ; of digitalis, opiates, antimonials, 
and many other remedies, without disturbing the functions of 
the animal economy, and without the danger of accumulation, 
which so frequently arises from the injudicious and long-con- 



OF THE WATER CURE. Ill 

tinued use of these drugs. We also derive from it all the 
good effects of fomentations, rubefacients, blisters, and other 
counter-irritants. This greatly simplifies the treatment, and 
reduces the catalogue of remedies. We at once banish from 
the list the potent mineral preparations, and the no less dan- 
gerous and poisonous tribe of narcotics, both so much 
avoided by the continental physician, that the very names 
of calomel, opium, and antimony, create in the patient a 
feeling of alarm, from the dread of being poisoned. We 
might then, with advantage to the patient, return to the 
practice of the ancients, consisting of a few simples and 
gentle aperients. All the older physicians considered absti- 
nence a most important part in the treatment of diseases, and 
relied on it fully as much as on the remedies employed, 
which, before the days of the Arabian physicians, were but 
few and simple. Thus we find the treatment adopted by 
Hippocrates was principally confined to bleeding, cupping, 
warm baths, cold effusions, a few purgatives ; and for diet, 
thin barley-water. Galen followed nearly the same treat- 
ment, and Herodicus relied altogether on diet and abstinence. 
The celebrated Stahl and his followers did nearly the same, 
watching the crisis, and directing their efforts to the periods 
when it would take place. 

All the celebrated physicians of ancient days considered 
medicine subservient to nature. It is only in latter times 
that, instead of noting the indications of nature, the practice 
became regulated by some preconceived opinion, for the most 
part erroneous. According to the humoral pathology, the 
fever was considered a salutary effort of nature ; and the 
inflammation of wounds or phlegmonous tumours was neces- 
sary to support suppuration, without which the wound 
could not radically heal. Thus, by mistaking effects for 
causes, the doctrine of " coction *' derived its origin. This 
theory gave rise to the fatal hot regimen, more destructive of 
human life than the most cruel wars. Those slain in the 



112 A TRUE REPORT 

field of battle for several preceding centuries would bear but 
a small proportion to the hecatombs of victims immolated at 
the shrine of this false theory. So fatal was it, that if any- 
escaped it could be attributed solely to the strength of the 
constitution, or rather that the patient happily transgressed 
the orders of his physician. Yet such is the force of educa- 
tion, and the obstinacy of habit, that even the great and 
good Sydenham, who first pointed out the error of this 
theory, and, by adopting the precepts of Hippocrates, fol- 
lowed a more natural and rational method in the cure of dis- 
eases, attended with fever, was, for this innovation, denounced 
by the majority of his medical brethren as a quack. So diffi- 
cult is it for those who have grown old in any preconceived 
notion to admit of their error ; and for this reason no phy- 
sician, who had attained the age of forty, would allow of the 
discovery of the circulation of the blood. Such was the 
opposition this brilliant discovery of the immortal Harvey 
met with, and such was the abuse heaped upon our English 
Hippocrates, who, observing the instinct of nature, intro- 
duced a cooler regimen in every species of fever, — a practice 
now universally adopted. Yet, so difficult is it for the mind 
to divest itself of the trammels of theory and early educa- 
tion, that even the learned and philosophical Sydenham still 
retained the doctrine of coction and its concomitant fever, 
notwithstanding he had observed that in the eruptive fever of 
the small-pox, the less the fever the more favourable was the 
eruption. " Quo sedatior est sanguis, eo melius erumpunt 
pustulae." An aphorism worthy of Hippocrates himself.* 

* Dr. James Sims remarks, " from an unwillingness to change old methods, 
rendered sacred from the various foolish reasonings in their defence, arises the 
small improvement medicine has ever received from regular physicians. 
Indeed," he adds, " this appeared so strongly to the elder Dr. Gregory, that 
he justly asserts, that medicine has received more improvement from that 
illiterate enthusiast, Paracelsus, than from all the physicians who had lived 
since the days of Hippocrates, Sydenham alone excepted. Can there he given 
a more melancholy picture of our unreasonable obstinacy in adhering to unsuc- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 113 

This fact alone sufficiently proves «the fever is merely 
symptomatic, that it is entirely foreign to the " coction ;'' in 
short, that it is merely the result of irritation, and has nothing 
to do with the disease. The less the fever, the more favour- 
able is the eruption, the more complete is the "coction;" 
because the less is the disturbance, and therefore everything 
goes on in a regular progressive order, according to the pecu- 
liar type of the disease. Nature, waiting a favourable oppor- 
tunity at the periodical changes which take place, either 
collects her resources to expel the morbific matter from the 
system by the effort of a crisis, or otherwise the disease runs 
its course, to terminate in the gradual recovery of the patient. 
In this case the diseased matter passes off slowly and silently; 
and a part being sometimes deposited in the system, gives 
rise to chronic affection. 

Of all physicians, either ancient or modern, no one paid so 
much attention to the progressive march of a disease, the period 
of its duration, the critical evacuations, and the periodical 
changes which take place, as the celebrated Stahl and his 
followers. He observes that "in the spontaneous cure of 
diseases, especially those which are acute, every disease runs 
a certain course ; and at a stated period nature effects a cure 
by the expulsion of the morbific matter, and thus restores 
the system to a perfect state of health without any remedy 
being administered. It was," he says, " a maxim among the 
ancients, ' nihil paucum criticum.' The crisis should be 
abundant, — a full, free, and copious evacuation, otherwise it 



cessful modes of practice !" A considerable change has taken place, at least 
in the mode of reasoning, since the time of the late Dr. Sims. The doctrine 
of coction, and the hot regimen, had passed away long before his time. The 
Brunonian school do longer exists. The rational theory of spasm and the 
humoral pathology have submitted to a like fate. The modern professors of 
the art, rejecting every theory, have become strictly empirical, and, like other 
empirics, rely entirely on the force of their remedies, without attending to the 
directions of nature or the crisis of disease. 

" Dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currunt," 

I 



114 



A TRUE REPORT 



afforded no relief, but rather aggravated the malady. Thus, 
in the critical hemorrhage of a fever, when the blood flows 
freely and largely, it is followed by a universal euphoria, or 
sense of ease and relief ; the febrile symptoms disappear, and 
the pulse becomes natural. If, on the other hand, it is scanty, 
it not only affords no relief, but all the symptoms become 
aggravated. Previous to this critical evacuation, there is a 
determination of blood to the head, the secretions being in 
the mean time suppressed or diminished. Nature relieves 
the plethor'a by a hemorrhage, preparatory to the expulsion 
of the morbific matter, which afterwards takes place by some 
other evacuation. Hence the advantage of copious bleeding 
in fevers. It is by observing, during these critical periods, 
the tendency of the directions of nature, by carrying relief 
to her salutary efforts, and regulating her motions, that the 
disease is to be cured. Such was the practice of the ancients. 
Hence their careful preparation of the humours, so that the 
secretions and the excretions might be duly and perfectly 
performed, in order that these critical evacuations might 
freely and fully take place. Long since Hippocrates incul- 
cated that nature, untaught in the schools of medicine, 
affords whatever is right and proper to be done, that such 
things may become the healers of disease. Many sick 
recover without a physician and without drugs, but none 
without healing. i Pridem indicavit Hippocrates, quod 
natura, a nemine edocta, prasstet ra Szovra, qua? debeant, 
decent et conveniant fieri, quod natura ipsa? sint morborum 
medicatrices ; quod multi homines sine medico atque medi- 
camentis sanentur, nemo vero sine medicina.' We find, from 
the observations of the ancients, that by knowing what should 
be done, especially during the seasonable exertions of the 
crisis, which is the battle of nature herself with the disease, 
that thus they achieved the victory of nature, and brought 
the disease to a speedy termination," 

Hence, we may perceive, that whenever a critical evacua- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 115 

tion is about to take place, there is a determination of nervous 
energy and of blood to tlie part by which the spasmodic bar- 
rier may be overcome, or an hemorrhage takes place, by 
which the spasm is resolved. It would further appear as if 
the intervals between the critical periods were to afford 
nature an opportunity to discover the weakest point of the 
enemy, and sufficient time to collect all her strength for the 
assault. If repulsed, she does not immediately renew the 
attack, either in the same or in another quarter, but reposes 
awhile from her efforts, and then, like a skilful general, con- 
centrates her scattered forces, and brings all to bear upon a 
given point. Who ever heard, in the spontaneous cure of an 
acute disease, that a critical bleeding from the nose, a diar- 
rhoea, a copious secretion of urine, a cutaneous eruption, or a 
profuse sweat, all supervened at one and the same time ; yet, 
together with bleeding and blistering; what a farrago of 
medicine is ordered with different intentions : purgatives, 
diuretics, sudoriflcs and emetics, anodynes, tonics and car- 
minatives, either separate or jumbled together in pills, 
draughts, or powders, to be daily swallowed, " simul et 
semel usque ad nauseam." 

We also perceive that when the crisis is not full and com- 
plete, or the morbific matter not wholly expelled, the disease 
then assumes the chronic state. Thus, in cases of fever, 
whether Continued or intermittent, congestions of the liver, 
or of some other organ, are of frequent occurrence, as in the 
case of Dr. Bulard. The vis medkatrix of nature, in order 
to avoid the more immediate danger from the poisonous 
molecules of disease being suffered to remain circulating in 
the blood, deposits them on these organs, similar to what takes 
place during a paroxysm of the gout, when they are driven 
into the extremities. But that a critical evacuation is at all 
times necessary for the re-establishment of health in chronic 
diseases, or that they should be rendered acute, as preparatory 
to this discharge, according to the assertion of Priessnitz, is 

i 2 



116 A TRUE REPORT 

by no means true. In these forms of disease they generally 
pass off slowly, silently, and imperceptibly; or, in other 
words, the return to health is very gradual; as much the 
effect of time and regimen as of medicine, or of the water 
treatment. Unless in some cutaneous diseases, where, from 
the frequent stimulus of reaction and sweating, their expul- 
sion may become more rapid, as from the effects of the wet 
bandage or moist sheet, where, from the colour and odour of 
the exudation, a critical discharge seems to take place. 

For a crisis to be established, requires, as has been pointed 
out by Stahl, the concentration of the vital energies ; but if 
we diminish the strength by repeated bleedings, direct these 
energies to different organs, and thus stimulate them all at the 
same time, and this continually, it is clear that it becomes 
impossible for a critical evacuation to take place. Neither 
does it. From the present state of the practice of physic, a 
crisis is a rara avis, seldom seen, and often denied. 

The water treatment, as practised by Father Bernardo, and 
Dr. Hancock, and others, in acute diseases, constitutes the 
most purely antiphlogistic regimen that can be adopted ; and, 
whilst by the addition of the moist sheet, or cold effusion, it 
solicits a crisis by the skin, yet it leaves nature free to select 
any other direction, without constraint, and without that 
disturbance which the exhibition of powerful drugs neces- 
sarily excites. It may, therefore, be considered a natural 
mode of cure, and in acute diseases is strictly in accordance 
with the instinctive feelings of the patients, — that is, with 
the voice of nature ; whilst in those which are chronic, the 
abstemious regimen, the wet bandages or fomentations, the 
perspiration, and the exercise prescribed, are equally in 
accordance with the indications of cure laid down by every 
writer of eminence on this subject, whether ancient or 
modern. 

If we direct our attention to the numerous cures, which 
have been accidentally performed by the patients themselves 



OF THE WATER CURE. 117 

plunging during the delirium of disease into cold water, we 
are compelled to admit the medicinal virtues of this remedy. 
Dr. Brayer, in his highly amusing and instructive work, 
entitled " Neuf Annees a Constantinople," relates the follow- 
ing facts : — " Le professeur Desgenettes rapporte les deux faits 
suivants: 1°. celui d'un sappeur attaque de la peste pendant 
l'expedition de Syrie. Dans un violent delire il s'echappa nu 
du fort Cattieh et erra pendant pres de trois semaines dans le 
desert ; deux bubons qu'il avait abcederent et se cicatriserent 
d'eux-memes. II subsista, quand il senti le besoin des aliments, 
avec une es]3ece de petite oseille. 2°. Celui d'un artilleur qui 
avait deux bubons et un charbon, et qui, aussi, dans un delire 
s'echappa des barraques du lazaret de Boulak et se precipite 
dans le Nil ; il fut retiree au bout d'une demi-heure au-dessous 
d'Embabeh par des habitans de ce village, et il guerit par- 
fakement. 

" Savaret, un des medecins employes a l'expedition 
d'Egypte, assure qu'un capitaine de vaisseau, ayant contracte 
la peste en soignant ses matelots, ressentit une excessive 
chaleur, comrae si son sang eut bouilli dans ses veins ; il lui 
semble qu'il n'avait plus que quelques instants a vivre. 
Profitant de peu de raison qui lui restait pour faire une essaie, 
il se coucha tout nu sur le tillac, par un temps fort brumeux ; 
1'humidite le penetra de toutes parts. Au bout de quelques 
heures sa respiration devint plus libre, l'agitation de la circu- 
lation se calma, de sorte qu'apres avoir pris un bain de mer 
il fut entierement gueri." 

I remember, when a student, the late Dr. Gregory used to 
relate in his lectures a similar case. A gentleman, during the 
delirium of a typhus fever, escaped by the window, his bed- 
room being on the ground floor, then plunged into the river 
flowing at the bottom of his garden, swam across and climbed 
up the opposite bank. The sudden shock of the cold water, 
with the exertion of swimming across the stream and scram- 
bling up the bank, restored him to his senses. Sensible of 



118 A TRUE REPORT 

his situation, in the middle of the meadow and his return 
intercepted, he was obliged to recross the river in the same 
way, and having regained his chamber got into bed, fell into a 
profound sleep with a profuse perspiration, and, several hours 
afterwards, awoke perfectly free from the fever. 

Dr. Willis, in his treatise on Phrenitis, gives a very remark- 
able case of a girl who was cured of this disorder by immer- 
sion in cold water. " Some time ago," says the Doctor, 
" I was called to attend a robust and vigorous servant maid, 
who being seized with a fever, became so furious and mad, 
that it became necessary to keep her continually bound in 
bed. I took a large quantity of blood from her at different 
times, opened the bowels by repeated clysters, prescribed the 
usual remedies in such cases, with the addition of juleps, 
emulsions, and opiates. But all these were of little or no 
service ; she remained without sleep, and raving mad, for the 
space of seven or eight days, crying and roaring incessantly 
for some cool fluid to drink ; for which reason she was allowed 
as much water as she pleased ; but was neither rendered more 
calm, nor less thirsty, by that means. As it was the summer 
time, I ordered her to be taken up in the middle of the night 
by women, and carried to a boat, where her clothes being 
taken off, and the cords with which she was bound untied, 
she was plunged into a deep river, having previously tied a 
rope about the trunk of her body, lest she should happen to 
be drowned. But there was no occasion for this expedient, 
for the girl could naturally swim with so much dexterity, that 
a man expert in that exercise could have scarce acted his 
part better. About fifteen or twenty minutes after, she was 
taken out of the water sober and in her senses. Upon which, 
being laid in bed, she slept, fell into a profuse sweat, and 
was thoroughly recovered without the use of any other 
remedy whatever." 

Dr. James, the author of the medicinal dictionary, relates 
an interesting case, which was told him by Sir John Floyer. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 119 

" Sir John was called to a farmer's wife, at a village about 
four miles from Lichfield, who was ill of a fever, attended 
with delirium and an utter privation of sleep. It happened 
one night, that the patient lay for a little time pretty still, 
and the nurse took that opportunity of going softly out of 
the room for a few minutes, upon a necessary occasion. 
When she returned, she found all still and quiet, and sat 
down by the bedside for at least a quarter of an hour, but 
observing that she did not hear the woman breathe she put 
back the curtains, suspecting she was dead, but was much 
surprised to find she was not in bed. After searching the 
room to no purpose, she alarmed the people in the house, who, 
after some time, found the woman in the yard up to the chin 
in water in the well, which was, as is usual in that country, 
not much above five feet deep, and nearly full of water. The 
woman was instantly taken out, and put to bed, and imme- 
diately fell asleep. Soon after a profuse sweat broke out, 
which continued for many hours. She awoke without any 
delirium, and recovered without any further trouble." 

In all these cases we have the critical sweat so much 
extolled by the older physicians. The works both of Currie 
and Floyer abound with instances of this kind, and surely 
these facts ought to open our eyes to the true pathological 
treatment of inflammatory disorders. Nature herself indi- 
cates the cure, — the patient craving after cool drink and 
cool ablutions. It was upon this observation that the cele- 
brated water-doctor, Father Bernardo, founded his practice. 
If dipping the hands into cold water, or having them 
spunged with vinegar, is found so refreshing, how much 
more so must it be to have the entire body, burning with 
feverish heat, cooled and refreshed by a deluge of cold water 
poured upon it, or by a sudden plunge into the cold bath. It 
is the copious, cool, acidulated drink, which is grateful to the 
palate parched with fever, and not the hot spicy cordial of 
former days, or the scanty placebo of an effervescent draught 



120 A TRUE REPORT 

of the present time. If healing is justly said to be an art, 
its perfection must consist in the close imitation of nature, 
and not in its antithesis. " Ars maxima est celare artem," 
is an ancient axiom ; yet how few there are who observe it 
in their practice, and often how contrary are the indications 
of nature to the empirical polypharmacy of the physician ! 

All knowledge is derived from the observation of facts, 
and not from the fruitless endeavour of bringing to light the 
hidden causes which have given them birth. We may gather 
both from the pathological observations of the older physicians 
in respect to crisis, as well as from what daily passes before 
our eyes, that the skin exercises a most important function, 
not only towards preserving the body in health, and thus 
warding oif disease, but also in being the principal outlet for 
the critical discharge of the peccant matter, and thus healing 
it when diseased. It is from this source that the febrifuge 
virtues of the compound antimonial powder are derived, — the 
celebrated powder of the author above quoted, which still 
continues to enjoy the highest reputation. But the appli- 
cation of cold water to the surface, cools, refreshes and 
stimulates by reaction, without irritation ; whilst the pre- 
parations of opium with antimony or ipecacuanha invariably 
irritate the system, and frequently without producing the 
desired effect of acting upon the skin. In short, all the 
pharmaceutical evacuants stimulate by irritation, and must, 
in the first instance, act upon the mucous membrane of the 
stomach and intestines, and more or less disturb its functions. 
But the stimulus of reaction is directly applied to the nervous 
system, causing a determination of blood and a current of 
vis nervosa towards the surface, without disturbing the func- 
tions of any other organ. By the one the critical evacuation 
is solicited, by the other it is forced. The danger of conges- 
tion can only proceed from the ignorance or unskilfulness of 
the practitioner, and it may be observed that this result is by 
no means so frequent as the evil consequences attendant on 



OF THE WATER CURE. 121 

blood-letting, or arising from the unskilful exhibition of the 
potent pharmaceutical remedies in daily use, — consequences 
of which it is impossible to calculate the extent. 

If from pathological observations we find the skin of such 
great importance in the cure of disease, it follows that it is of 
equal importance in affording protection against the invasion. 
Hence it has been noticed, that those who are exposed to be 
frequently wet, and therefore, as it were, washed, such as 
fishermen, tanners, bleachers, and others, enjoy a remarkable 
immunity from contagious diseases. The skin performing its 
functions freely, it would seem as if the poisonous miasma of 
contagion were carried out of the system as speedily as they 
are absorbed into it. On the other hand, such as neglect this 
cleanliness of their persons become highly susceptible of cold 
and contagion, of fever and inflammatory disorders. This may 
be remarked in those who are accustomed to warm clothing, 
especially such as wear flannel next the skin and keep much 
within doors. From the constant use of flannel the skin be- 
comes unctuous, as if covered with a coat of varnish closing 
the pores ; so that the insensible perspiration is impeded, or to 
some extent suppressed. For this reason the blood, instead 
of circulating freely, so that the chemical action with the 
oxygen of the atmosphere may take place, is repelled, 
from the cutaneous arteries or capillaries, and from the 
exhalent glands or pores, into the larger vessels, and the indi- 
viduals feel chilly on the slightest exposure. Perhaps for 
the same reason the morbific miasmata, unable to escape by 
this outlet, are retained in the system, acting as a ferment 
and reproducing their own poison, which rapidly manifests 
itself under some peculiar form or type, accompanied with 
fever. It is thus John King, in his essay on cold bathing, 
observes, that " the causes of all our rheumatism, and many 
other diseases, are chiefly owing to the pernicious use of 
flannel and woollen shirts next the skin." Sir John Floyer 
also says, " We ought not to wear too many clothes. The 



122 A TRUE REPORT 

old writers prescribed an exercise naked. The wearing of 
flannels renders the person very tender, and subject to the 
changes of the weather. Down beds are also very injurious. 
Sitting constantly by the fire, constant use of hot liquors, and 
hot baths, make the body subject to greater tenderness, and 
consequently to the changes of weather in cold countries." 
These facts have not escaped the observation of the philosopher 
of Graefenberg. 

" Rusticus, abnormis sapiens, crassaque Minerva." 

It is strange we should be so fully sensible of the import- 
ance of this origin in other animals, yet neglect it in our own 
persons. How many thousands there are who pass their lives 
without ever allowing cold water to touch their bodies, unless 
accidentally caught in a shower of rain ! who content them- 
selves with merely washing their hands and face once a day, 
and their feet never but in warm water ! Whilst others if 
ever they wash their bodies with cold water or take a cold 
bath, do so in the heat of summer, merely to cool and refresh 
themselves, without considering it conducive to their healths. 
Yet what care we take of our domestic animals in this 
respect. Our horses are rubbed down or curried twice a day, 
and with especial care after a journey. We know how much 
they are refreshed by it, so that it is a saying, "a good 
grooming is equal to a feed of corn." The farmer curries his 
stall-fed oxen to make them thrive the better ; and even in 
the refinement of polished life, the lady, who shudders at the 
thought of cold water, orders her favourite spaniel to be 
washed and combed once a week. Nature has kindly pro- 
vided for the wants of all her offspring, and there can be no 
doubt but in this respect she has equally provided for man. 
It is the sedentary restraint and the artificial wants of civilized 
life, so much at variance with her laws, that have brought a 
whole host of diseases to shorten and embitter his existence. 
As nature formed him, he is the most robust and the most 



OF THE WATER CURE. 123 

enduring of all animals, neither the horse nor the dog can 
support the daily fatigue of his march ; we find him inhabiting 
every climate, from the torrid zone to the frozen poles. He 
is patient of fatigue, capable of enduring hunger and thirst, 
but little subject to disease, and his existence protracted to the 
longest span. Endued with superior organization, and superior 
intelligence, he is formed to enjoy existence, yet in the midst 
of the luxury of civilization, he is beset with every species of 
moral and physical ills. How dearly does he purchase those 
refinements his superior intellect has procured ! To behold 
the care he takes to provide for his artificial wants, one would 
suppose nature had disowned him for her offspring, or was 
but his stepmother, He persuades himself, that mind has 
been imparted to him in lieu of instinct ; that whilst other 
animals act in obedience to the blind impulse of nature, his 
actions are governed by the Divine ray of reason. How 
blind must be that reason which constantly leads him astray ! 
With what care he covers his feet lest the cold or damps 
should penetrate, yet the barefooted children of the poor 
neither feel the cold nor suffer from the damp. In like 
manner the warm muff or well-furred gloves protect his tender 
hands, where the more hardy ploughman never feels the cold. 
Shivering beneath the breeze he seeks for warmth, and finds 
it not, — whilst his robust ancestor, the Pict or the Briton, 
exposed his naked body to the full influence of the atmosphere 
and every change of temperature, or whilst the no less hardy 
child of nature, the red Indian of our own days, inhaling the 
pure breath of heaven, with invigorated limbs, and with the 
warm glow of health, roams through the forest 

" with bosom bare, 
Nor heeds the storm that howling rusbes by." 

If by thus protecting our persons, like hot-house plants, 
we become shrivelled and chilled on the slightest exposure, 
constantly subject to cold and rheumatism, and if by satiating 



124 A TRUE REPORT 

the " palled and jaded appetite," as if we lived to eat like the 
stall-fed ox, the number of diseases are greatly increased, and 
the amount of our enjoyments as greatly diminished, how 
much more rational it would be to return to Nature, to 
restrict ourselves to what she requires, and, with frugal sim- 
plicity, learn to eat that we may live, that her wants may be 
supplied. If the enjoyment of indolent repose, and the 
comforts of a warm fire-side, render us pale, dejected, and 
dyspeptic, let us seek for health and warmth in the fields, 
and give motion to our limbs, without which neither plant 
nor animal can thrive ; we may then with safety lay aside our 
warm clothing without the dread of cold. If by filling our 
veins and poisoning our nerves with the liquid fire of ardent 
spirits we become feverish and diseased, let us quench our 
thirst from the limpid stream, and drink water medicinally 
to cool our burning feverish heat, and expel from our veins 
the fiery poisonous particles which consume and dry up the 
fountains of life. When the blood circulates more freely, 
and the stomach is relieved of the load which oppressed it, 
a new nervous influence will invigorate every muscle, and the 
sympathizing mind, no longer brooding over imaginary ills, 
will participate in the elasticity of the body, and impart a con- 
scious feeling of renovated health and youthful existence. 

As barbarous and semi-civilized nations live much in the 
open air, freely exposing their persons to wet and cold, 
without danger or inconvenience, like the Scythian, quoted 
by Dr. Hahn, whose body was all face, so may civilized man 
lay aside his acquired habits, and inure himself to the same 
exposure. Man is still the same animal, whatever may be his 
mode of life, and to return to nature, or lay aside his artificial 
wants, is neither so difficult nor so hazardous as many 
suppose. Hence we find that landsmen, accustomed to have 
their necks and chests carefully covered, upon becoming 
sailors, freely expose those parts without suffering any ill 
effects therefrom. Neither does it appear that, during the 



OF THE WATER CURE. 125 

expedition of Sir John Ross to the North Pole, the crew 
suffered from the cold ; but on their return home, found the 
warm and confined atmosphere of a house inconveniently 
oppressive, perhaps from its exciting some degree of feverish 
reaction. Sir Walter Scott, in his Notes to the Lady of the 
Lake, relates the following anecdotes: — " It is reported of 
old Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, when upwards of seventy, 
that he was surprised by night on a hunting or military expe- 
dition. He wrapped himself in his plaid, and lay contentedly 
down on the snow. When the Highlanders are constrained to 
lie among the hills, in cold, dry windy weather, they sometimes 
soak the plaid, and then holding up a corner, turn themselves 
round and round until they are enveloped by the whole 
mantle. The wet, they say, keeps them warm by thickening 
the stuff, and keeping the wind from penetrating. I must 
confess," says the writer of the letter, " I should have been 
apt to question this fact, had I not frequently seen them wet 
from morning to night, and even at the beginning of the rain, 
not so much as stir a few yards to shelter, but continue in it, 
without necessity, till they were, as we say, wet through and 
through. They have been accustomed from their infancy to 
be often wet, and take to the water like spaniels, and this has 
become a second nature." It is thus we behold soldiers 
during a campaign, accustomed to bivouac, suffer but little 
from cold or wet. It has been noticed that the French revo- 
lutionary armies, notwithstanding they had to submit to every 
privation from the want of shoes, of clothing and of food, and 
constantly sleeping in the open air, yet supported by the 
stimulus of enthusiasm, enjoyed a remarkable immunity from 
disease. The open air, constant exercise, the excitement of 
danger, and the hope of conquest, sustained their energies. 
I may here observe, that the enthusiasm which prevails at 
Graefenberg, and most watering places, in many instances 
contributes not a little towards the cure. For what is enthu- 
siasm, but exciting the nervous influence by a moral cause ? 



126 A TRUE REPORT 

The excitement of madness gives rise to a similar effect, and 
wards off other diseases, and by the stimulus of reaction the 
Highlander sleeps in his wetted plaid on the open heath 
without injury. 

Life may be said to consist in motion, and, as the flame 
requires to be fed, or the watch to be kept wound, so does the 
body require a. constant supply of stimulus, as food, fresh air, 
and exercise, in order that its healthy functions may be sus- 
tained. The sudden withdrawal of stimulus, like the depress- 
ing passions of the mind, exhausts the nervous energy and 
exposes us to the inroads of disease. Those who live in the 
open air, and are robust in the resistance of cold, of wet, and 
of fatigue, can but ill endure the comforts of warmth or brook 
the monotony of confinement. The mind and body begin to 
languish, and a low nervous fever frequently follows. Thus 
troops, which have braved the rigours of a winter campaign, 
fall sick and die in great numbers, from fever, when they 
enjoy the luxury of a warm bed, of idleness, and comfortable 
quarters; the stimuli of cold and exercise, and the excite- 
ment of the campaign, having been suddenly withdrawn. 
This sudden change from cold to warmth is invariably fol- 
lowed by feverish reaction. Hence there is greater risk of 
taking cold upon suddenly entering a hot room, or breathing 
a heated atmosphere, after having been long exposed to cold 
air, than in the reverse. Hence parts that are frost-bitten 
become mortified by sudden warmth from the spasm of the 
vessels and the violence of the reaction. Every schoolboy is 
familiar with the effect of warming his benumbed hands at 
the fire, after a game at snow-balls ; and hence it was that 
Elizabeth Woodcock, who remained buried eight days under 
the snow, nearly lost her life from the violence of the fever 
which followed. For the same reason that the robust man, 
who can resist cold and wet in the open air, languishes under 
the influence of warmth and confinement, it behoves those, 
who, for a length of time have submitted to the process of 



OF THE WATER CURE. 127 

the " water-cure," to be extremely cautious how they return 
to their former sedentary mode of life. 

The doctrine of reaction, that cold water combined with 
friction gives a tone to the vessels, increases and restores the 
circulation, acts as a derivative, promotes the expulsion of the 
peccant matter, and thus purines the system, constitutes, as 
has been frequently stated, the basis of the " water cure." 
It is thus when parts are frost-bitten or benumbed with cold, 
the vitality and circulation are restored by friction with snow 
or ice-cold water, perhaps the best remedy for chilblains. 
Thus when the hands or face are washed with cold water, 
they become red, and the skin of any part of the body con- 
stantly exposed to cold air acquires a redness, and the body, 
upon being rubbed dry after the cold bath, assumes a glow 
or red tint. Hence cold water becomes a derivative, whilst 
warm water, on the contrary, is said to repel ; for, notwith- 
standing the turgessence of the vessels during the time, they 
soon fall into a state of collapse ; the hands washed in warm 
water soon become white, and shortly after the warm bath 
the body remains pale. Plunging into the cold bath, on being- 
rubbed dry, the re-action is brought forth, whilst by returning 
to the warm bath it is destroyed, and may thus be reproduced 
and destroyed as often as the experiment is repeated. 

Thus by means of reaction cold is a powerful stimulus, 
and without reaction it is of itself a sedative, even to the 
extinction of life. When exposed to an intense degree of 
cold, the parts about to be frost-bitten lose sensation, and the 
individual about to perish feels a torpor of body and mind, 
with an irresistible desire to fall asleep. The pulse gradually 
becomes more and more feeble, and the vis nervosa in the 
same ratio less and less capable of resistance, until the part 
affected loses its vitality, and, yielding to the laws of inorganic 
matter, at last becomes frozen. From hence we may also 
gather that the sedation or catastasis of cold and its reaction 
are direct positive effects on the nerves themselves, indepen- 



128 A TRUE REPORT 

dent of the warmth of temperature in the one case or the 
abstraction of it in the other ; for it is by friction with snow 
or ice-cold water that warmth and vitality are restored, and 
as by friction the electric fluid is excited and accumulated in 
inorganic bodies, so by similar means the nervous energy is 
restored to the benumbed or frozen parts, as if the animal 
body were an organized electrical machine. 

Heat, like other diffusible stimuli, excites for the moment, 
but leaves the body relaxed and exhausted. After washing 
the hands in warm water they soon become cool and sensible 
of cold ; the same observation is applicable to the warm bath, 
or to warming the body at the fire on a frosty day. This 
want of action cannot be attributed to the mechanical effects 
of temperature; for notwithstanding the relaxation, and 
consequently the increased capacity of the capillary vessels, 
yet, when the stimulus of heat has ceased to operate, they no 
longer admit the red globules, which prove that this relaxed 
condition arises from the want of contractility in the vessels 
themselves, from the deficiency of nervous energy ; whilst by 
the reaction of cold this energy is supplied in great abun- 
dance, and notwithstanding the firm and tense condition of 
the skin, the vessels having acquired additional contractile 
elasticity, the red globules are propelled with force. It is 
this which constitutes the difference between the exhausting 
and transient stimulus of heat, and that genial influence or 
tonicity which is propagated to the extremities of the nervous 
fibrillce from the reaction of cold. 

The sensation of cold, the horripilation and shivering which 
accompanies it, is very similar to the rigor of a fever, whilst 
the following hot stage may be considered the unavailing 
effort of nature to bring about a salutary reaction, but which 
is arrested, as has been stated, by the spasm of the nervous 
fibrillw. In health, the vis nervosa, repelled by cold, returns 
with the elasticity of a bended bow ; in the rigor of disease, 
nature, concentrating her forces to expel the peccant matter, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 129 

seems to withdraw this energy, in order afterwards to direct 
it with increased vehemence either on the skin or some other 
excretory organ where the critical evacuation is to take place ; 
and the degree of this reaction, or the intensty of the hot 
stage, is precisely in proportion to the intensity of the preced- 
ing rigor. No part can suffer two actions at the same time — 
the weaker yields to the more powerful; thus a stimulating 
application cures a burn, or the caustic alkali heals a foul and 
sluggish ulcer ; the more powerful action induced by art over- 
coming the weaker action induced by disease. This view of 
the subject explains how, during the fever, the effusion of 
cold water resolves the spasm; also how even during the 
cold clammy sweat of disease, it gives a healthy tone to 
the vessels and restores the patient. This salutary reaction, 
impressed on the nerves of the skin, imparts a peculiar 
and indefinable sensation of well-being to the entire body, 
and, by the laws of sympathy or nervous intercourse, is 
communicated to the excretory ducts and sentient ex- 
tremities of the nerves and vessels throughout the system, 
leaving nature unconstrained in the choice of the crisis about 
to take place. 

The internal use of cold water is scarcely less beneficial 
than the daily custom of washing the body ; for as the 
mucous membrane sympathizes with the skin, so does the 
reverse take place. Thus during a sharp biting frost, a 
hearty draught of cold water gives a warm and healthy glow, 
whilst successive cups of hot tea, like the transient stimulus 
of heat or of the warm bath, excite and warm for the moment, 
but render us more sensible of the cold when again exposed 
to its influence. For the same reason, the diffusible stimulus 
of wine or spirits still more rapidly excites and exhausts the 
nervous influence. This was exemplified in a remarkable 
manner on the disastrous retreat of the French army from 
Moscow, for such as drank brandy to keep themselves warm 
were the first to be frozen to death. Manv instances mio'ht 



130 A TRUE REPORT 

be adduced illustrative of this and similar effects from the use 
of alcoholic liquors, in persons exposed to cold or undergoing 
great fatigue, showing under these circumstances, that heat, 
wine, and spirits, are stimuli which rapidly diminish the ms 
insita, or strength of the muscles, exhaust or dissipate the 
nervous energy, reduce the temperature of the body, and 
destroy its vigour or capability of resisting the influence of 
external agents. 

Cold water on an empty stomach excites reaction, so that the 
blood is immediately determined towards that organ in greater 
abundance, and the juices peculiar to it are secreted more 
largely. This reaction being communicated by sympathy to 
other parts of the body, all the secretions are increased, and, 
for the same reason, absorption becomes more rapid. There 
is, therefore, along with the sensation of hunger, which 
immediately follows, a greater demand for nourishment. 
Those portions or particles which have been used are 
speedily carried off and ejected, and the reparation of 
the daily wear and tear is more perfect, or, in other words, 
the body is better nourished. This speedy loss and re- 
paration of the body constitutes one of the principal dis- 
tinctions between youth and old age ; it is the reason why 
there is a larger appetite, and a greater demand for nutri- 
tion in youth, and why young animals cannot endure the 
privation of food for so long a period as those more ad- 
vanced in life. 

As cold water increases the appetite by reaction, so, for 
a somewhat similar reason, provocatives and other irritants, 
as a dram taken immediately before dinner, or condiments, 
and spiced or salted meats, create, what may be justly termed, 
a false appetite, — an appetite for which there is no demand. 
The nerves being irritated, there is an increased determina- 
tion of blood and secretion of gastric juice, causing the sensa- 
tion of hunger ; a larger quantity of food is consumed than 
what is required for the reparation of the body ; it is, there- 



OF THE WATER CURE. 131 

fore, never completely assimilated. These unassimilated 
particles, together with such used and useless parts as have 
performed the functions of nutrition, are never entirely 
absorbed and ejected, but remain in the system, laying the 
foundation of chronic disease. Stimulants of this description 
are of short duration, rapidly exhaust, and, to prevent the 
evils of indigestion, must be frequently renewed. Thus 
he who begins his dinner with a dram finds it necessary to 
follow it up with the bottle. The peristaltic motion of the 
intestines becomes impaired along with the stomach, and other 
irritants in the form of purgatives are then had recourse to, 
in order to excite their action, and relieve them of the load 
with which they are oppressed. All the functions are imper- 
fectly performed ; the ill-concocted chyle is badly assimilated ; 
the worn and wasted parts are but partially excreted or 
carried off; and the blood, therefore, becomes impure. For 
the immediate preservation of life nature makes an effort to 
dispose of these impurities ; they are, in consequence, depo- 
sited on the joints and extremities, constituting gout, which 
salutary crisis affords some temporary relief, or otherwise on 
the liver or some other organ, when a diseased action ensues, 
terminating in an organic lesion, which ultimately destroys 
life. The nerves necessarily suffer from this condition of the 
blood ; they give rise to a constant feeling of feverish and 
restless uneasiness, and, sinking into a state of desponding 
melancholy, the patient too often increases his malady by 
seeking relief in the stupifying effects of fermented liquors 
or ardent spirits. Thus by indulging a vitiated taste we 
become the martyrs of our own imprudence, and drag on for 
years a painful existence, suffering from gout, gravel, stone, 
liver and other diseases. 

It is not merely because water is the natural drink of nil 
animals, that its use is to be recommended, or that it improves 
digestion, and is a real tonic ; but in addition to these it has 
the highest functions to perform, and is indispensable to the 

k2 



132 A TIRE REPORT 

existence of organic matter. It constitutes seven-eighths of 
the entire weight of the animal body ; it is the great solvent 
of all other bodies, and, as such, becomes the vehicle of 
nutrition ; it dissolves those particles which are absorbed, 
either to be reconverted into blood, or to be carried out of the 
system ; and, in the subtle, elaborate, and inimitable chemistry 
of the living body, it is in part decomposed, and thus, 
perchance, becomes of itself a source of nutrition. Hence, 
with those who die from a total deprivation of meat and 
drink, the sensation of hunger shortly gives way to that of 
intolerable thirst, and, if water can be obtained, the life of 
the individual is not only greatly protracted, but every 
particle of fat, much of the muscular fibre and many other 
parts are absorbed, dissolved, and reconverted into blood, so 
that the body is itself consumed, and the sufferer dies in a 
state of extreme emaciation. On the other hand, without 
water, the blood soon becomes unfit for the purposes of repa- 
ration ; the nerves can no longer secrete their own peculiar 
fluid or energy ; they, the very seat of the vital principle, 
become diseased, and life is extinguished in a raging fever, 
and the madness of delirium . 

As water is the natural drink of every animal, it is sur- 
prising how much pains civilized man bestows to sophisticate 
this pure, life-restoring fluid ; it seems as if by the employ- 
ment of so much art in the preparation of meat and drink the 
progress of civilization were marked by the greatest divergence 
from the laws of nature, as something directly opposed, — or 
that the subtlety of the one were superior to the unpretend- 
ing simplicity of the other, — as if the irritants or stimuli we 
daily use were necessary, as ballast to a ship, to enable us to 
steer our course and escape being foundered in the ocean 
of life. Hence this natural drink becomes disguised under 
various forms, and, instead of gliding smoothly along, the 
vital powers are constantly struggling against an under 
current of counter irritants, until at last this wonderful piece 



OF THE WATER CURE. J 33 

of mechanism is swallowed up in the vortex of disease. Such 
is the penalty imposed upon us for our departure from the laws 
of nature, — a life of suffering, or rather a prolonged and linger- 
ing death. Neither does the evil terminate in death, for " the 
sins of the fathers are visited upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation." Hence it is that so many come into 
existence procreated with the germs of disease within them, — 
a puny race born to suffer. Does it not, then, behove us all, as 
far as the social condition of society will permit, to return to 
the pure simplicity of our primitive parents ? — to quench our 
thirst at the living stream, and satisfy the wants of nature 
with homely, wholesome food ? " What astonishing miseries,' 1 
eloquently observes the excellent Dr. Cheyne, " wealth and 
vice bring upon human kind! when nothing but pain and 
melancholy, frightful ideas, horrible dreams, and black 
despair remain! — who would not have parted with the richest 
delicacies, the most delicious wines, and the most enticing 
vices, for a plain, simple diet, an useful laborious life, freedom 
from pain, and a good conscience?'' How many there are 
who pass through life in the full persuasion that, having per- 
formed the moral obligations of society, and attended to those 
of religion, they have performed all that is required of them, 
utterly forgetful that, in addition to their duty towards their 
neighbours, there is a duty they owe to themselves, and that, 
if they should not injure others, neither should they injure 
themselves, but use all things in moderation ; for as Scripture 
tells us, " by surfeiting many have perished, but he that 
taketh heed prolongeth his life." 

Upon the principle of abstemiousness, fasts have been incul- 
cated as a religious ceremony amongst eastern nations from 
the most remote antiquity, and in appearance are still pre- 
served. Occasional total abstinence corrects the effects of 
frequent repletions, or over-feeding. They grant a period of 
perfect repose, and thus afford nature an opportunity of 
relieving herself: she is thus enabled to diminish the plethora 



134 A TRUE REPORT 

of the vessels, and to eliminate that which is hurtful. It may 
also be observed that these fasts were ordained at the spring 
and fall of the year, when evacuants, as blood-letting and 
alteratives, were considered by later physicians highly bene- 
ficial, and were often thus periodically prescribed. 

Pure w T ater and simple food generate wholesome blood, by 
which the body is nourished ; yet it is not alone by what we 
eat or drink that we live, but also by the air we breathe, and 
we may be said to a certain extent to breathe by the skin as 
well as by the lungs. By simple food, and by freely exposing 
ourselves to the full influence of the atmosphere, that is, by 
air, exercise, and diet, we are enabled to maintain a due 
equilibrium in the circulation, or, what is the same thing, in 
the energy of the nervous system. By this exposure the skin 
becomes equally unimpressible to the sudden alternations of 
heat or cold, and, by thus duly performing its functions, it 
preserves an equal temperature in all seasons, and in all 
climates. The vis nervosa governs the circulation of the 
extreme vessels, and regulates the temperature by irradiation 
and insensible perspiration. Those who perspire the most 
profusely by heat or exercise, are also chilled the soonest by 
cold ; and, in either case, the reason is the same — the want of 
nervous energy. Hence the vessels, from their relaxed state, 
become shrivelled or collapsed in winter, and pour forth 
copious streams of perspiration in summer. The debilitated 
frame is incapable of opposing a sufficient quantity of resist- 
ance in its extreme vessels either against the impetus of the 
circulation, or the influence of external agents. It is the 
weakest horse which sweats the soonest, whilst the one in 
high condition will trot many miles without a hair being 
turned. The healthy man, accustomed to labour, can work or 
walk without suffering from fatigue or perspiring from his 
labour ; whilst the infirm is soon exhausted and deluged with 
perspiration. The evaporation, caused by profuse perspira- 
tion in the exhausted and overheated bodv. acts as a substitute 



OF THE WATER CURE. 135 

for the deficiency of nervous energy, which not only gene- 
rates animal heat, but regulates its quantity, carrying oif its 
excess by insensible perspiration, and perhaps more especially 
by radiation. To increase this cooling process nature has 
granted the Ethiopian a black skin, more abounding with 
vessels, pores, and nerves, — possessing a more exquisite sense 
of touch, and, in short, more highly organized than that of the 
European. This colour and organization enables him to 
endure the burning rays of a tropical sun, — to preserve an 
equal temperature in the suffocating atmosphere of the torrid 
zone, whilst his soft, black, unctuous skin remains cooler than 
that of the European, or than the heated air he breathes ; and, 
perhaps, for the same reason is he enabled to inhabit the 
mouths of the rivers of Africa, or cultivate the rice-fields of 
America with impunity, — localities so fraught with certain 
death to the European, — the miasmata of disease being con- 
ducted out of the system by insensible perspiration and 
radiation, as rapidly as they are absorbed into it. The 
difference of colour and organization between the European 
and the African throws some light upon the physiology of the 
skin, or the functions it has to perform, and the way in which 
they are performed. The European, with his white, or, 
more correctly speaking, with his blood-red or rosy skin, (for 
if constantly exposed to the air it would become such) is better 
enabled to endure the cold climate of the north. There are 
fewer nerves, fewer pores, and a total absence of colouring 
matter. The sense of touch is less delicate, therefore he is 
less sensible of the impression of cold; the pores are con- 
stringed, consequently the insensible perspiration is dimi- 
nished, and, from the absence of colour, there is less radiation ; 
therefore the heat is retained, whilst the cold itself reacts as 
a stimulus, producing a glow of warmth, and forcing the circu- 
lation into the minute vessels. Thus it is that Nature, by 
her admirable adaptation of this organ to circumstances 
widely different, has, in point of fact, rendered it a nicely 



136 A TRUE REPORT 

graduated sliding scale, which preserves nearly the same 
standard of temperature under every climate. 

Such are the functions of the skin in the healthy man ; 
but with the infirm it loses this pliability of adaptation, the 
nervous energy becoming everywhere deficient. The secre- 
tions are, therefore, more or less imperfectly performed ; the 
relaxed muscular fibre is rapidly exhausted of its vis insita ; 
and, for the same reason that the blood is not propelled with 
impetus in cold weather, the insensible perspiration and 
radiation of caloric continue diminished even in warm ; and, 
to avert the impending danger of a fever, the pale relaxed 
skin is either bedewed with a clammy sweat, or pours forth 
a copious perspiration, so that the body may be cooled by the 
process of evaporation. With him mental emotions or bodily 
exertions soon render the nerves agitated and tremulous. 
The respiration and circulation participate in this disturbance ; 
and, in cases of long-continued laborious exertion, such as 
running, the heart beats with violence, the air is drawn in 
with deep and hurried respirations, until he is compelled to 
cease from pure exhaustion. He then gasps for breath, the 
heart continues to palpitate, and the perspiration pours down. 
The muscles become exhausted of their vis insita, and, did 
not nature thus kindly put an end to the strife, the vital 
powers would be speedily overwhelmed with universal con- 
gestion by the vast influx of blood to the heart and the lungs, 
in order to receive the vivifying influence of the air ; whilst 
the brain and the larger vessels would be indirectly involved, 
thus adding to the catastrophe about to take place. Hence, 
to recruit and restore the diminished energy of the system, 
rest becomes necessary after labour, and, for the same reason, 
nature has ordained the repose of sleep as indispensable 
to all. 

The skin abounds with pores, nerves, and vessels of the 
finest dimensions, which are incomparably more numerous 
towards the surface than at the base. It is here, at the 



OF THE WATER CURE. 137 

upper face, where it is the most highly organized, and where 
its principal functions are performed. This fact points out 
the great importance of paying every attention to its external 
condition. By ablution and friction, the pores are not merely 
opened and purified, but the extreme nervous fibrillce are 
excited, the temperature increased, and its functions thus 
promoted and restored ; since, by its innumerable nerves, it 
is connected by sympathy with every part of the body, so 
does it at once indicate the slightest change ; and, as the laws 
of sympathy are mutual, if the skin is affected by the suffering 
parts, so does it, when restored to its healthy action, exert 
a similar influence over those as well as over all other parts. 
Hence the refreshment experienced by men and horses from 
shampooing, washing and rubbing down after great fatigue. 

It was from such observations as these that frequent ablu- 
tions became enjoined as a religious ceremony conducive to 
the health of the body. For, in the primitive state of society, 
the duties of the priest, the physician, and the lawgiver, were 
united in the same individual, as with the ancient priests of 
Egypt, and the Levites of the Jews, and as we find it even at 
present prevails amongst the Equimaux Indians and other 
barbarous tribes. Hence the rites and ceremonies prescribed 
in the second book of Leviticus constitute the Jew T ish code 
of sanatory laws. Of such importance was washing the body 
with cold water considered, that it became a religious cere- 
mony with almost every known nation of antiquity. It 
was afterwards typically enjoined by the Saviour, adopted by 
Mahomet in the fullest manner, but was, except on certain 
occasions, singularly omitted by Moses, on which account 
the Jews w^ere always an unclean people, subject to cuta- 
neous, paralytic or rheumatic and other diseases. Washing 
the body naturally became symbolical of the purification of 
the soul, and cleanliness was esteemed a virtue next to godli- 
ness. Thus, in the baptismal ceremony of the Eleusinian 
mysteries, the priest, exhorting the neophyte to lead a pure 



138 A TRUE REPORT 

and holy life, pronounced the famous formula, supposed to 
possess a mystic charm from being so constructed as to read 
backwards — 

Nitf/ov avofxtiiAara iir\ fxovav oipiv. 

" Wash the sins from thy soul, not merely the filth from thy 
face." The neophyte, having passed through various ordeals, 
having washed or purified his body, and having typically 
assumed a robe of unsullied white, was said to be regenerated, 
and was then initiated into those mysteries which strictly 
enjoined the practice of every virtue, and the worship of the 
Deity in unity — the bountiful God of Nature, revealed 
beneath the emblem of Ceres. 

Sir John Floyer reports that, from baptismal immersion 
and the frequent washing of children with cold water in 
former times, the rickets was a disease unknown to our 
Catholic forefathers. It was a common saying, that no child 
has the rickets unless he has a dirty slut for his nurse. He 
further observes, that all nations, previous to the refinement 
of civilization, were in the practice of washing their new-born 
children with cold water. 

It is perhaps difficult to ascertain the full importance of 
the skin, and the extent of its sympathetic influence. As the 
index of disease, it may be surmised that the due performance 
of its functions contributes most largely to the maintenance 
of health. When those functions are entirely suppressed, 
as by a coating of impermeable varnish, life itself is speedily 
destroyed. The lungs seem to sympathize with its altered 
condition, the animal heat is no longer generated, and death 
follows, as if from asphyxia. We know that many surprising 
cures have been accomplished simply by dry friction, which 
increases the absorbent power of the veins and lymphatics, 
and greatly promotes the circulation ; for which reason it is 
strongly recommended by Dr. Cadogan, especially for such 
as are unable to take exercise. The whole of the views ol 



OF THE WATER CURE. 139 

this excellent author are so perfectly consonant with my own 
on the origin and treatment of chronic diseases, that I am 
tempted to transcribe the following : — 

" It is upon the minutest and almost invisible parts of our 
body our best health, strength, and spirits depend : these fine 
parts, commonly called capillaries, are little pipes or tubes, 
the extended continuation of the larger vessels, through which 
the finer parts of the blood must continually pass. Now the 
strength of the heart or arteries alone, in a sedentary course 
of life, is by no means sufficient to keep up and perpetuate 
this motion through these capillaries, but requires the assist- 
ance and joint force of all the muscles of the body to act by 
intervals, compress the veins, propel and accelerate the circu- 
lation of the whole mass of blood, in order to force and clear 
these pipes. I would ask any reasonable person, whether he 
can conceive it possible to substitute any medicine to be 
swallowed that shall act upon the blood and vessels like the 
joint force of all the muscles of the body acting and re-acting 
occasionally in a regular course of moderate daily labour or 
exercise. Unless this can be done, I will venture to pro- 
nounce there is no such thing as a lasting cure either for 
gout or any other chronic disease. A certain degree of exer- 
cise or bodily motion is necessary, at intervals, every day, 
to raise the circulation to that pitch that will keep the fine 
vessels open and the old blood pure, and also make new from 
the fresh juices. If the patient can neither walk nor ride at 
all, he must by degrees be brought to do both by the assis- 
tance of others. Let a handy active servant or two be em- 
ployed to rub him all over, as he lies in bed, with flannels or 
flannel gloves, fumigated with gums and spices, which will 
contribute greatly to brace and strengthen his nerves and 
fibres, and move his blood without any fatigue to himself. 
This may take up from five to ten minutes at first, but must 
be repeated five or six times a day, supposing him totally 
unable to help himself. But if he can walk a hundred yards 



140 A TRUE REPORT 

only, it will forward him greatly to walk those hundred yards 
every two hours ; and if he can bear a carriage, let him go out 
in it every day, until he begins to be tired. Thus he must 
go on rubbing, walking, and riding a little more and more 
every day, stopping always on the first sensation of weariness 
to rest a little. This is recommended with an intention to 
dislodge and throw off all remains of crude gouty concretions 
that may have obstructed his joints, or lain concealed in any 
of the lacunce or recesses of his body ; to free the circulation 
in minimis, and all its secretions, perspirations, and discharges 
whatever ; and though this intention can never be but very 
defectively answered by medicines, it may certainly be assisted 
and greatly promoted by a few well-chosen deobstruents and 
sweeteners, that, like putting shot or gravel into a bottle, 
with a good deal of agitation, will greatly help to make it 
clean, but without agitation will do nothing. This friction 
may seem but a trifling prescription to those who have never 
tried it sufficiently, but is of the utmost consequence, and its 
effects are amazing, especially to all those who are too weak 
to use any muscular motion themselves. A little friction 
may have little or no effect ; but long continued, and repeated 
often, with fumigated flannels, it will do more to recover 
health, and support it afterwards, than most other things or 
methods. It promotes circulation and perspiration, opens 
the pores, forces the fine vessels, strains and purifies the 
blood, and this without the assistance of any internal stimu- 
lation. It is this that keeps horses in tolerable health with 
very little exercise." 

These well-known effects of dry friction suggest an im- 
provement in the water- treatment, which would, to a great 
extent, obviate the danger of congestion, and be certain to 
produce the most salutary re-action, without the risk of fever. 
It is partly by these frictions that Schrott of Lindewiese so 
often succeeds in cases which Priessnitz has failed to cure ; 
and by them the late Mr. G rover, of Oxford, cured so many 



OF THE WATER CURE. 141 

cases of white swelling rind indurated tumours. There can 
be no doubt they would be found serviceable in every stage 
of this treatment, and are applicable to every, even the 
most delicate, constitution. It may also be observed that 
they would greatly promote the chemico-vital action of the 
skin in the generation of carbonic acid gas ; and perhaps it is 
from this action that the beneficial results derived from it are 
chiefly, if not altogether, obtained ; for the venous blood of 
these minute capillary vessels being converted into arterial, 
it becomes more stimulating, an additional quantity of caloric 
is extricated, and the nervous tissue acquires additional 
energy, or ms nervosa. 

It has been stated that the success of the water-treatment 
depends on the derivative effects of re-action ; and, from the 
precaution Priessnitz takes to combine friction with cold 
water, as well as his injunctions that the patient should feel 
warm, it certainly appears he has some vague notion of the 
danger of congestion, notwithstanding he denies the met. 
When it is remembered he has often changed his practice, 
which could only have arisen from the want of success, and 
that, even now, he has no fixed or certain method in his 
treatment, it must be admitted that, so far from " seeing into 
the human body, as if it were made of glass," his ideas are 
altogether obscure and confused. In spite of the assertions 
of the creatures he keeps in his pay to sound forth his praises, 
to tell the patients that in the management of the u crisis " he 
is omnipotent, that it is then he shines forth like a god, and 
acts instinctively with pure intelligence : yet it has been seen 
that in the hour of danger he is utterly at a loss how to act, 
and, as in the case of the unfortunate Miss S. S., when for 
the last two days he attempted nothing, he becomes the silent 
spectator of death. In this case, as well as in others, he 
screened himself from the imputation of ignorance, by assert- 
ing that his orders had not been complied with. It has also 
been seen, that at other times, when he perceives the case is 



142 A TRUE REPORT 

hopeless, or dangerous, he either recommends the patient to 
return home to get more strength, or otherwise becomes 
inattentive ; and, should the patient not leave of his own 
accord, he gets up a quarrel that his orders have not been 
followed, so that he may have a pretext to dismiss him, 
to die elsewhere. Thus he screens himself from blame, 
justifies his conduct, and saves his reputation for infallibility : 
thus was Dr. Bulard dismissed to die at Dresden; and thus 
was it pretended that the Princess Leichtenstein, Miss S. S., 
and others died through their own fault. It is clear these 
fatal results can only be attributed to his ignorance of the 
effects of his own remedies ; to his boasted ignorance of phy- 
siology, "that nature refuses all respect for what is now 
denominated learning, nay, tramples upon revealed sciences, par- 
ticularly on that of medicine;" and to his ignorance, that the oft- 
repeated stimulus of reaction impairs the nervous system, and 
causes feverish excitement; and that this debilitated state of the 
nerves predisposes to the congestion, which follows the long- 
continued application of cold. Had Miss S. S. quitted Grae- 
fenberg before the more violent means had been adopted, her 
general health might have been permanently improved ; or 
had the Princess remained in the hip-bath only two or three 
minutes, the re- action would have taken place with greater 
certainty, and she might have escaped the congestion and 
inflammation which destroyed her life. Even in my own 
case, had I rigidly followed the treatment prescribed during 
the second paroxysm of the gout, viz. been twice a day placed 
in a couple of moist sheets, and rubbed each time for half an 
hour or longer in the demi-bath, there would have been great 
reason to apprehend a congestion falling on the lungs or 
some other organ, — a danger constantly present to my view. 
As it was, I became thoroughly exhausted ; I felt, on being 
replaced in bed after remaining so long in the cold bath, 
as if every particle of warmth had been abstracted from 
my body, and was so reduced as scarcely to be recognised. 



OF THE WATER CURE. 143 

Are not these facts sufficient to point out the danger of the 
practice pursued by Priessnitz? — a danger which arises 
from his false theory of disease, his erroneous views 
of the action of cold, and his utter ignorance of phy- 
siology. 

To the causes of congestion alreadv recited might be 
added also that arising from unskilfulness in applying the 
bandage so usually worn over the stomach. For if it be 
not thoroughly wrung out and sufficiently covered with 
folds of dry linen to retain the warmth, the whole will 
become readily wet, and the blood might be thrown or con- 
gested upon the lungs or intestines by the cold arising from 
evaporation. 

In addition to the evil consequences of congestion, those 
which sometimes arise from drinking immoderate quantities 
of cold water must also be noticed. From ten to twenty, 
thirty, and even forty large tumblers are drank in the course 
of the day, according to the strength of the patient, and his 
capability to swallow them. This large quantity of water 
suddenly taken into the system, sometimes occasions vertigo, 
resembling drunkenness, very difficult to get rid of, and 
accompanied with intense headache. Three or four cases 
have also occurred of asphyxia, the patient, with his stomach 
greatly distended, being thrown into a state of rigid spasm 
or catalepsis. In these cases the spasm was resolved after 
much perseverance, either by friction with cold water, or by 
directing a stream of water from a fire-engine upon the body 
of the patient. One of these cases, that of a Bohemian 
actress, acquired Priessnitz the reputation of raising the 
dead to life. Whether any occurred in which the patient 
did not recover, I was unable to learn. 

From drinking this large quantity of cold water, the urine, 
for the first three or four days, is limpid, colourless, highly 
stimulating, inodorous, and apparently without urea. It 
seems, as before stated, as if the kidnies had sufficient 



144 A TRUE REPORT 

work to perform in relieving the system from this sudden 
influx of water, without being able to separate the urea from 
the blood, which there is reason to believe is the fact, and 
that the two operations are distinct. The bowels remain 
costive, and sometimes vast quantities of flatus, free from 
odour, are generated, as if from the decomposition of water 
by the mucous membrane. Afterwards a resolution of the 
spasm generally takes place, accompanied with a slight 
diarrhoea and griping pain. The stomach then no longer feels 
distended, and the urine, secreted more slowly, is retained, 
and recovers a pale straw colour. In short, the system now 
accommodates itself to the change which has taken place. 
The water is readily and immediately absorbed, penetrating 
mechanically, or by capillary attraction, into the various 
tissues, to be carried off as much by the skin and the lungs 
as by the kidnies. 

There can be no doubt that this quantity of water, with 
which the body may be said to be soaked and saturated, greatly 
promotes perspiration. A horse allowed to drink copiously 
before setting out on a journey, soon sweats profusely, and 
loses his wind or becomes short breathed. When the system 
has become accustomed to the change, no injurious effects 
are observed to occur during the treatment, and in most 
cases it may contribute towards the cure. But it some- 
times happens, after the patient has left the establishment, 
that he continues to drink as largely as before, under the idea 
that the water will carry off any peccant matter which may 
continue to linger in the lactma?, or hiding holes of the body, 
and at the same time returns to his former sedentary mode of 
life. From this sudden discontinuance of exercise, sweating 
and reaction, conjoined with debility, the functions of the 
skin and mucous membrane become partly suppressed, and 
the water, penetrating into the cellular tissue, instead of being 
carried off, remains there located, constituting the disease of 
dropsy, or anasarca. In this condition of the skin and 



OF THE WATER CURE. 145 

mucous membrane, the thirst is increased, and the disease 
nourished, so that well might the poet exclaim, — 

" Crescit indulgens sibi dirus hydrops, 
Nee sitim pellit." 

The water treatment has been much decried in Germany 
on account of this relapse, one of extremely rare occur- 
rence, and arising for the most part from the patient's own 
indiscretion, in the same way as congestion is to be attri- 
buted to the ignorance and unskilfulness of the practitioner. 
It is certainly unjust to draw conclusions from an abuse, or to 
undervalue that which is good in itself because evil sometimes 
results from it. How many have been poisoned with opium 
and calomel ? — and does not antimony derive its very name 
from the monks of Einsiedlin having been poisoned by the 
experiments made upon them, — yet who, on that account, 
would exclude these sheet-anchors of the physician from 
amongst the remedies in daily use ? For the same reasons, 
since the good effects of the water treatment are intrinsically 
its own, and the bad arise solely from its misapplication, 
surely its medicinal use is not to be disregarded because death 
sometimes ensues either from congestion or from relapse. 

Fully aware of the danger of congestion, Sir John Floyer 
repeatedly cautions his reader against the long-continued 
application of cold. " The patient is not to stay in the bath 
above two or three minutes, as he can easily bear it ; and to 
go in and out immediately on the first bathing, after an 
immersion of the whole body." He says, " the way to pre- 
pare the body for cold baths, if very tender, is to wash it all 
over with warm water first, about the spring time in May, 
and so every morning use cooler, until it can bear the sense of 
very cold water." He commends the practice of Galen and 
the ancients in having the body prepared by friction in a 
warm room, and rubbed with oil before plunging into 
the cold bath, with the additional use of the strigillum, or 



146 A TRUE REPORT 

scraper, until it became moderately red; but it does not 
appear he ever adopted this practice. " An excess in cold 
bathing occasions cramps, rigors, and fevers; all these are 
prevented by staying in no longer than we can bear the sen- 
sation of cold water without excessive chilliness, and by the use 
of friction before and after. These inconveniences the Romans 
prevented by friction and unction, and by heating the body 
with moderate exercise before." In all diseases which require 
sweating, as gout, rheumatism, rickets, palsies, and " obstruc- 
tions of the nerves," he judiciously orders it to be done after 
the cold bath, which is contrary to the practice of Graefen- 
berg, but strictly according to that which prevailed at Wil- 
lowbridge, and all the cold springs noted for the cure of 
these diseases. " Immediately after cold baths the sweats are 
produced, if we commit the patient to a warm bed ; but a 
longer use of cold baths stops all evacuations ;" that is, if the 
patient remains in too long he becomes over chilled, and the 
reaction does not take place. In order to insure the reaction, 
he used to order his patients warm ale or mulled wine, or 
posset after the bath, as practised at the springs. Thus 
Mrs. Piser of Repton, who, being unable to walk, was dipped 
three times in a chair at each bathing, and, on being put to 
bed, " she sweat plentifully after it, by the help of warm ale 
and spirits of hartshorn ,-" and thus also at St. Mungo's Well, 
the rickety children, who were dipped in their shirts and night 
caps, and then wrapped up in warm blankets with their wet 
clothes on, drank some sack or mulled wine immediately 
before and after dipping.* The use of the wet bandage and 

* This mode of bathing in a shirt appears to have been of great antiquity. 
Dr. Hahn makes mention of it as practised in his time on some particular days, 
as Good Friday, and it was found serviceable in skin diseases, the patient either 
allowing the shirt to dry on his back, or was well covered up in bed. Sir John 
Floyer alludes to a simitar custom at Willowbridge : " There is a dangerous 
practice, of which I have heard some patients complain : they wear the wet 
shirts, in which they bathed, all day afterwards, by which some were over 
chilled ; but I have heard of others that were more strong, who bore that 



OF THE WATER CURE. 147 

moist sheet, first introduced by Dr. Hahn, and subsequently 
adopted by Priessnitz, were great improvements on bathing 
in a shirt. It is probable this mode of sweating, together 
with the use of cold bathing, went out of vogue on the intro- 
duction of the fatal hot regimen in the cure of fevers ; yet it 
continued to be practised, at least amongst the common people, 
at the cold springs in the North of England, celebrated for 
the cure of rheumatisms, intermittent fevers, strains, rickets, 
cutaneous and nervous diseases, down to the times of Floyer. 
He says, " the patients were immersed at all ages, from six 
months old to eighty years, and, whilst in, women were 
employed in rubbing them, particularly the diseased parts. 
Children were merely dipped, but adults remained as long as 
convenient, from a quarter to near half an hour. They used 
no particular diet, but had a draught of warm ale or sack 
after they came out. The sick went to bed and sweat for 
two hours, whilst the healthy took exercise, finding them- 
selves in a warm glow, and more active than before." The 
mode of dipping children is thus described : " a woman plunges 
the child over head and ears, then rubs it all over, especially 
the limbs, back and stomach; they plunge and rub them 
thrice, and this is called one dipping ; they must not be above 
three minutes in doing this. If the children do not sweat, 
they put their maids to bed to them." All the writers on 
cold bathing agree that the principal benefit is derived from 
the shock given to the nervous system, and not from the long 
continued application of cold ; Dr. Baynard also observes, that 
" some of the best cures done by the cold baths, are from a 
sudden plunge overhead, and then immediately getting out. 
Staying in long weakens the force of the nerves, and the 
benefit of the immersion is lost." 

practice without any injury." It is probable this custom might have been 
introduced from Germany by the Anglo-Saxons. The wet shirt seems also 
to have been employed for sweating by jockeys. " Dip the rider's shirt in 
cold water, and after it is put on very wet, lap him in warm blankets to sweat 
him violently, and he will lose a considerable weight, a pound or two." 

L 2 



148 A TRUE REPORT 

None of the authors on cold bathing give directions about 
the quantity of water to be drank, but seem to leave it to the 
discretion of the patient, deeming it sufficient to recommend 
him to abstain from fermented liquors and high seasoned 
dishes, and to use moderation in animal food. Sir John 
merely observes it is necessary to drink water to prevent 
a relapse. Dr. Baynard recommends drinking water mode- 
rately. From hence it would appear that these eminent phy- 
sicians considered the cure of chronic diseases ultimately 
depended as much on the abstinence enjoined as upon the 
medicinal virtues of the water drank, and relied principally 
upon purifying the system of morbific matter by sweating, 
and upon restoring the healthy tone of the nerves by the 
sudden impression of cold. In acute diseases, as well as 
with others, water was always ordered to be drank abund- 
antly. " It is," he further observes, " a curious remark 
of Celsus, that cold bathing is most useful in wet weather, 
when all people are sensible of a heaviness and dulness of 
their spirits. Water fowl and small birds usually wash them- 
selves in wet weather," as if to fortify themselves against the 
change. 

From these extracts, and by referring the reader to the 
Appendix for further information, I leave him to judge of the 
superiority of the practice in use amongst our forefathers, 
revived and adopted by Sir John Floyer, over that pursued 
at Graefenberg. The one is rational and physiological, 
whilst the other is in a great measure capricious and 
empirical. In the hands of Sir John and Dr. Baynard, it 
appears to have been eminently successful ; in those of Priess- 
nitz, there is, out of the numbers who flock to him, scarcely 
one in twenty cured. None of the worst cases we meet with 
in Sir John Floyer's work required a longer treatment than 
five or six months, whilst at Graefenberg they are protracted 
to three or four years, which can only be attributed to the 
excess of cold water, both inwardly and outwardly applied, 



OF THE WATER CURE. 149 

and to the unwholesome food. The long-continued frictions in 
the half-bath, and the frequent repetition of the moist sheet, are 
debilitating processes, which tend to congestion. In a high 
fever, where it would not be necessary to repeat these opera- 
tions more than a few times, there can be no doubt they 
would be found highly useful ; but in chronic disease the case 
is widely different ; for, from these long and frequent applica- 
tions, the skin becomes benumbed and insensible, and the 
reaction takes place with difficulty, or frequently not at all. 

It is impossible to lay down rules applicable to every case ; 
yet the following may serve as a general outline. It is at all 
times important that the reaction should take place imme- 
diately after the cold-bath, and it would be well to administer 
some warm drink or cordial, in order to secure this result. 
With the very young, the aged, and the infirm, a single 
plunge is sufficient ; and in most cases, especially gout and 
rheumatism, the patient should sweat after the cold bath. 
Dry friction, especially after sweating, should in every case 
be combined with the treatment, not only to dry the body, 
but to promote the circulation, and thus prevent a collapse of 
the vessels. The morning is the most fit time to produce a 
healthy reaction on the empty stomach, by drinking a 
tumbler of cold water; and, at the same time, the entire 
body should be washed with a wet sheet, towel, or sponge, — 
the wet sheet is to be preferred, from the sudden and entire 
application giving rise to an immediate reaction. The 
patient ought to take exercise before breakfast, which should 
be a slight repast, as the name implies, as oatmeal porridge, 
or bread and milk ; the food should be light, simple, and easy 
of digestion ; and, in the majority of cases, it would be found 
sufficient merely to use water as the ordinary drink. When 
the reaction takes place with difficulty, the heating-bandage 
should be applied hot instead of cold, the advantage of which 
I have had frequent opportunities of observing, both in my 
own person as well as in others ; and, let it be ever borne in 



150 A TRUE REPORT OF THE WATER CURE. 

mind that the cure of nearly every chronic disease depends 
as much upon air, exercise, diet, and cheerfulness, as upon 
the remedial means employed, which, without these, will, in 
the majority of cases, be of little avail. 

However excellent the water treatment may be in a great 
variety of diseases, yet it must be admitted, as an undeniable 
fact, that it is far from being the universal remedy which its 
advocates pretend. In the hands of Priessnitz and his fol- 
lowers it has become a quack medicine — an universal nostrum 
— and, like every other remedy indiscriminately used, is fre- 
quently as productive of injury as of benefit. Used in 
moderation, and judiciously combined with other remedies, 
there can be little doubt but the greatest advantage would be 
derived, especially when united with the occupation and 
amusement of a large establishment. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



Extracts from the Work of Dr. Hahn, entitled, " Observations on 
the Healing Virtues of Cold Water, inwardly and outwardly 
applied, as proved by experience." 

Dr. John Sigmund Hahn was town-physician of Schweidnitz in 
Silesia (about fifteen German miles distant from Graefenberg) and 
was the first German physician who introduced the water cure into 
his native country. He derived his information on the medicinal 
virtues of cold water from the English physicians, Sir John Floyer, 
Dr. Baynard, and Dr. Smith. The first edition of this work appeared 
in 1738, a second in 1743, a third in 174-5, a fourth in 1754, and a 
fifth in 1770 under a new title, in consequence of the water cure 
having become at that period antiquated and unpopular. Professor 
Oertel republished this work, which he accidentally met with in 
1804. 

Dr. Hahn's Preface. 

" The world has now endured nearly six thousand years, and its 
inhabitants attained a much greater age formerly, when they lived on 
milk, and drank water, than their descendants do at the present day. 
After Noah invented the art of fermenting the juice of the grape, and 
the Egyptians that of brewing beer, mankind abandoned the use of 
pure water for these palate-tickling, but health-destroying, beverages. 
Notwithstanding the duration of human existence became greatly 
curtailed, and a host of painful disorders appeared in hostile array, yet 
these real and manifold evils were considered more than compensated 
for by the indulgence of a vitiated taste, and the pleasure of a tempo- 
rary excitement. Thus did the votaries of Bacchus continue to drink 
and to suffer, — to sacrifice health and life, at the shrine of Circean 
pleasure. Unable to abandon this acquired taste and habit, they 



154 APPENDIX. 

endeavoured to persuade themselves that, the painful diseases they 
suffered, arose from the natural decay of the body, and thus was the 
remorse of conscience lulled asleep. By comparing wine and beer 
to medicines the most efficacious in the cure of disease, and the most 
conducive to the prolongation of life, they prevailed on others to 
follow their own pernicious example, despising pure water, they 
declared that it weakened the nerves, distended the stomach, and 
impaired digestion ; — that its coldness was the emblem of death, that 
it diminished the natural heat of the body, and ultimately extin- 
guished the spark of life. By these fallacious arguments they 
removed every doubt, and others, readily persuading themselves of 
their truth, continued to pursue a short-lived course of pleasure. 

" As virtue is ever calumniated by vice, thus was the good repute 
of water destroyed to prepare the way for the gratification of every 
sensual indulgence. Hence tasteless water ceased to be grateful to 
those whose appetites had become depraved by wine, beer, and 
spirits ) and in this manner this wholesome beverage, which could be 
had everywhere, and in abundance for nothing, was displaced by the 
expensive, alluring, and pernicious juice of the grape. Many phy- 
sicians also acquired a taste for these artificial, exciting liquors, and 
laid aside the use of water in the cure of disease. We oft recommend 
to others that which we like ourselves. Hence they medicinally 
prescribed wines to their patients, together with powerful drugs. All 
this tended to their benefit, for their practice greatly increased with 
the introduction of wine and beer, whilst on the other hand there 
was but little to be got by medicine so long as men continued the use 
of nature's wholesome beverage and universal remedy — common 
water. 

" What the desire of wealth and the love of pleasure failed to 
accomplish, art and folly brought about. For open-mouthed folly 
easily induced the credulity of mankind to believe the laborious 
works of art superior to the spontaneous productions of nature. A 
few simple herbs, culled from the fields, constituted the first 
apothecary's shop, before spirits, essences, tinctures, or distilled 
waters were known, save such as dropped from the clouds, as flowed 
in the running stream, or as were distilled from the dews of heaven. 
These simple gifts of nature were beneath the notice of men, whose 
minds were inflated with the pride of science, and the wonders of art. 
They studied how by the torture of fire, and an elaborate chemical 
process, to change the properties of the most common things. On 



APPENDIX. 155 

these new products of art they bestowed the loftiest titles, and, as 
though partaking of the Divine essence and possessing heavenly 
virtues, they were esteemed the elixirs of life and the panaceas of 
every disease. Thus was the admiration of gaping folly excited, and 
men readily became the dupes of their own credulity. 

" To such an extent has the appetite for these artificial and 
chemical preparations arrived in the present day, that those who 
prefer the simple productions of nature are turned into ridicule, and 
looked upon as simpletons ; and the physician, who uses them in his 
practice, is called an old woman, — a mere soup and water doctor. 
Under these circumstances many an honest physician is obliged to 
follow the reigning fashion, and, borne along with the stream, is 
compelled against his better judgment to yield to the general opinion 
of the multitude, who judge from outward appearances. Thus the 
use of cold water has fallen more and more into neglect and oblivion; 
so that now it has become a matter of surprise, and people cross 
themselves, when told that by drinking abundantly of cold water 
they may cure a raging fever, or that, by freely washing and bathing 
their limbs in it, the pain they suffer will be relieved, and their 
rheumatism disappear. 

" The prejudices against cold water are now so deeply rooted that it 
becomes extremely difficult for the honest physician to eradicate 
them. I have often experienced this difficulty, and know the pains 
it requires to lead back perverted minds into the right way, to 
dispel their fears, and convince them by ocular demonstration of the 
efficacy of cold water. Yet it is pleasing to reflect that, in every 
age in which medicine has been practised, there have been found a 
few upright physicians, who, having had sufficient courage to resist 
the prejudices of the credulous and to despise the scoffs of their 
colleagues, were not deterred from recommending, among other 
simple remedies, the inward and outward use of cold water, to the 
great benefit of their patients. 

" Cold water has in the present age happily acquired a high degree 
of pre-eminence, the late Dr. Schwertner having translated the best 
English and French works on the ' medical virtues of cold water,' 
published the collection in six volumes, under the title of Medicina 
Vera Universalis. In no part of Silesia have the principles of the water 
treatment made a greater progress than in my native town of Schweid- 
nitz ; and it would be ungrateful in me not to mention that my deceased 
father, Dr. Sigmund Hahn, above fifty years a practitioner here, was 



156 APPENDIX. 

the first, who not only recommended the inward and outward use of 
water to his patients, in different disorders, but who also, in spite of 
existing prejudices, and the opposition of his colleagues, from the 
diminution of their practice, brought it again into repute. He had 
the satisfaction of seeing many upright physicians follow his example, 
and also great numbers of people both here and in other parts of the 
country, who, conquering their fears and aversion, began to drink 
freely of cold water, both in health and in sickness, as well as washing 
and bathing in it, to their infinite advantage. He further set his 
patients a good example, not only by drinking cold water, but also 
by bathing in it in his old age, even when the weather was inclement; 
and, in addition, publicly avowed his water principles, in a treatise 
he published on the subject, entitled, Psychrolusia Veterum Renovata. 

" It is not to be wondered at, if young cocks imitate the crowing 
of the old, and, having had a few years' experience in my father's 
school, I have not only imbibed his principles and opinions, but have 
in the course of my own practice seen the effects of the inestimable 
and never-to-be-sufficiently-praised virtues of cold water, in various 
difficult and dangerous disorders." 

The author thus introduces his remarks on the properties of cold 
water : — " It is," says he, " limpid, colourless, tasteless, penetrating, 
dissolvent, incorruptible, and unchangeable. It is not only fluid 
itself, but the cause of fluidity in other bodies. From its extreme 
tenuity and infinite divisibility it is capable of penetrating the 
hardest bodies." He then quotes the celebrated experiment of the 
Academia del Cimento, that it penetrates the pores of metallic bodies, 
and is incompressible, sweating through the golden ball rather than 
allowing itself to be condensed or compressed. He then relates the 
vast force of capillary attraction. " A strong dry wedge was driven 
into a hole bored into a stone in a millstone quarry, which being- 
moistened and swollen with water the rock was riven asunder as well 
as if it had been blasted with powder, so that the resistance of 
the rock was not sufficient to compress the water soaking into the 
plug, or to prevent the plug from expanding. Hence water penetrates 
into all the parts of the body. It is soft or bland, and may be applied 
to the most delicate parts, as to an inflamed eye, without causing 
any pain, except such as may proceed from its being either too hot 
or too cold. It does not ferment, and may be kept many years in 
well-closed vessels without undergoing any change ; which cannot be 
said of any other liquor. 



APPENDIX, 157 

" It is from these properties that it exerts its powers on the human 
body. Being limpid, it is in continual motion, and presses upon all 
things with which it is brought into contact • that as every part of 
the body continually requires a fresh supply of limpid matter to 
prevent it from being dried up or shrinking, water is the liquid best 
adapted to replenish our bodies, and preserve them in their natural 
state. It should for this reason be made use of by all, especially by 
young people during their growth. It not only prevents the different 
tissues from becoming dry and shrivelled up, but keeps them pliable, 
and gives them that movement, elasticity, and expansion which 
nature requires. Being soft, bland, and unchangeable, it does not 
weaken, corrode, irritate, or otherwise injure any of the most delicate 
or tender parts by which it is imbibed. 

" A particularly useful quality of water is its power to dissolve, 
separate, attenuate, and render liquid other substances; it is there- 
fore the fluid best adapted for the common drink of man. 

" Amongst the bad effects resulting from wine may be enumerated 
its injuring the nerves, causing delirium tremens, and a highly 
inflammatory state of the system. On the other hand, water, by its 
extreme tenuity and limpidity, increases the circulation of the blood 
without rendering it immoderate or violent, like wine or brandy, or 
thick and heavy, like glutinous drinks, as beer. It not only improves 
the health and renders the body robust, but greatly invigorates the 
procreative faculties; in proof of which, Dr. Venette, a celebrated 
French surgeon, asserts, ' It gives lovers more strength or vigour 
than any other drink.' Hence the old French proverb: — 'Dix 
yvrognes ne valent pas en amoureuse affaire un buveur d'eau !' 
The abbots in old times allowed their monks to drink only a limited 
quantity of water during the day, and strictly forbade them to drink 
any during the evening, because the abundant use of water rendered 
them incapable to keep their vows of chastity. It clears the intel- 
lect, strengthens and augments the animal spirits, calms and paci- 
fies the violent emotions of the mind. For which reasons students 
should use no other drink. 

" Cold water is sometimes found, with beginners, to incommode the 
stomach, and cause a tenderness. This arises from the stomach being 
coated with a thick layer of slimy matter, caused by the use of beer 
and wine, which the water dissolves and separates. The now tender 
and naked stomach, undefended by this mass of slimy filth, is 
irritated by whatever is taken in, whether meat or drink, and even 



158 APPENDIX. 

water, otherwise so bland and gentle, creates an unpleasant sensation, 
which may proceed merely from its coldness. But this is sometimes 
imaginary, and at all times passes off by perseverance; for the water 
purines the blood, and so hardens and strengthens the stomach, that 
those things which before troubled it or were indigestible, no longer 
cause any pain or inconvenience. 

a A very sensible lady assured me, that during a whole twelvemonth 
she was incommoded with the above symptoms, but by persevering 
to drink water, they ultimately disappeared, and she now felt how 
much benefit she had received by so doing ; that her former sickly 
hue was now changed into a healthy colour • that she had become 
stronger, more brisk and lively, and free from every disease. 

" Water does not, as some suppose, weaken the stomach, but on the 
contrary increases the appetite, as may be seen by the larger quantity 
of food taken at meals. Those who make this assertion contradict 
themselves; for a debilitated stomach requires a less, and not a 
larger, quantity of food. Others imagine that by drinking water they 
lose their colour and flesh. Even if such were the case, and they did 
become a little paler and thinner, such a loss is not to be compared 
to the general improvement of health which is obtained thereby. It 
yet remains to be shown whether a protuberant stomach, with swollen, 
flabby, puffed-out cheeks, is to be preferred to a more slender shape, 
and a thinner face : or whether the rude country glow of health, with 
rosy cheeks, is not to be preferred to that pale and sickly hue, so 
much admired by people of fashion. But water-drinkers generally 
retain their flesh and healthy colour. A few, however, who had 
swollen, flabby, or spongy flesh, and therefore unhealthy, have in 
appearance become thinner, and lost their puffiness, having ex- 
changed it for a firm and compact flesh, therefore healthy. Those 
who from the use of ardent spirits and thick glutinous beverages, as 
beer or brandy, have got reddened, violet copper-coloured faces, have 
not by drinking water become pale, but have exchanged their violet 
or purple redness for a more natural colour. Every reasonable man 
ought, I think, to be well satisfied with such a change. 

" Some complain that after drinking water, they are incommoded 
with a hardness or obstruction in the bowels. This is of rare occur- 
rence, and admits of the following explanation : — the water, passing 
through the intestines, strips off the slippery, slimy, agglutinated 
filth, so that the feces cannot pass or slip through so readily, or in 
such quantities as before. This only takes place in the beginning, 



APPENDIX. 159 

and is not attended with any particular inconvenience. By con- 
tinuing to drink water the natural functions are soon restored, and 
everything assumes its proper course, as I have frequently observed 
both in myself and others. 

" Trallianus assures us that he has used cold water in dysentery 
with the best effects; and Amatus Lusitanus obtained equally 
beneficial results in colic. He mentions the case of the wife of an 
officer suffering from that disease, who had an inclination for a 
draught of cold water, which he willingly gave her ; she had scarcely 
emptied the jug before her pains disappeared, as if they had been 
charmed away, and never returned. A young man, aged twenty-one, 
suffering under this disease, he not only ordered to drink cold water, 
but had a linen cloth dipped into cold water, wrung out, arid applied 
over the stomach. To the astonishment of those around him he 
recovered, adding no little honour to the art of medicine." 

(Here we meet with the application of the fomenting bandage, or 
Neptune's girdle, as it is termed, so much in vogue at Graefenberg.) 
" Water possesses every healing virtue, which may be obtained from 
other remedies. If a country abounded with sour and bitter fountains, 
and only one of pure fresh water existed, it would then, from its 
scarcity, be most highly prized. As it abounds everywhere, and is 
to be had for nothing, its healing virtues are overlooked and despised ; 
whilst, on the other hand, great faith is reposed in such things as are 
only to be obtained with much difficulty and expense, which are 
prepared with great and unnecessary trouble, and on which pompous, 
high-sounding titles are bestowed. The Roman poet, Lucanus, 
has taken a just view on this subject, and inculcates the virtues of 
sobriety and cold water in the following lines : — 

1 Discite, quam parvo liceat producere vitam, 
Et quantum natura petat. Non evigit aegros 
Nobilis ignoto Liffasus Consule Bacchus ; 
Non auro myrrbaque bibunt ; sed gurgite puro 
Vita redit ; satis est populis fluviusque Ceresque.' 

Luc. Phars. iv. 377. 81. 

" Dr. Hoffman states that the beneficial effects of different watering- 
places in chronic disorders are not to be attributed to the light, spark- 
ling air, or to the saline, or other mineral substances combined with the 
water, so much as to the medicinal properties of common water, 
with which they are mixed, and which is drunk in great quantities. 

" Pure water, or water mixed with common salt, is recommended as 



160 APPENDIX. 

a vomit or as an aperient. It operates with greater effect than any- 
other purgative, and is strongly recommended by the Neapolitan 
physician — the celebrated Ingrassias. He states that a physician 
relieved the viceroy of Sicily, Johannes de la Vega, by these means, 
and received from him as a reward the golden cup, valued at fifty 
ducats, out of which the water had been drunk. 

" Perspiration caused by cold water is more salutary than that by 
any other means ; and although warm water will produce perspiration, 
yet it chills the body afterwards much more than cold.* 

" Immersion in cold water is not followed by any ill consequences : 
thus, a lady far advanced in pregnancy, whilst driving in a sledge, 
fell through the ice, and was completely drenched with water, yet she 
was afterwards safely delivered without any bad effects arising from 
the immersion. The Indians plunge their new-born children in cold 
water, and continue to bathe them daily. The Turks perform 
their daily ablutions with cold water; also the Russians, from out of 
a warm vapour bath jump into cold water or roll in the snow, by 
which means they become very hardy, capable of enduring frost, 
rain, heat, and the most inclement weather. 

" On the effects of washing the skin with cold water. — The skin is not 
to be considered merely as a coat or covering, but is of great 
importance to the health of the body. As a coat or covering it 
protects the inward parts from many external injuries, and keeps 
them together as the best bandage that could be invented. It is 
also the organ by which the superfluous parts of the blood, as well as 
the superabundant watery particles, pass off by insensible perspiration. 
The want of moisture is injurious, it loses its pliable elasticity, 
becomes shrivelled, and causes pain when stretched. The neglect of 
cleanliness is productive of much evil inconvenience, the pores 
becoming closed, the viscid serum, fat and oily particles with which 
they are filled, obstruct the insensible perspiration to the great injury 
of the health of the body, giving rise to various diseases, both 
cutaneous and others. Cold water is better adapted for removing 
these impurities than warm, which latter dries up the skin and 
injures its fine vessels, whereas cold water strengthens it, renders the 
body hard and insensible to cold, like that Scythian, who went naked 
about the market-place at Athens, to the great wonder of the people. 
On being questioned by one of the philosophers, how he could go 

* This fact is noticed by Sir J. Floyer, Baynard, and all the authors on the use 
of cold water. 



APPENDIX. 161 

about so naked in the cold I asked in reply, why the other did not 
cover his face up in winter? Upon the Athenian answering that it 
was accustomed to the cold, the Scythian rejoined, Then consider my 
whole body as being all face. 

" The frequent ablution of the body with cold water not only 
preserves it from various cutaneous affections, but will cure them. 
I recommended a woman, who had the itch, to get into a tub of 
water, and, remaining in it several days, to eat, drink, and sleep 
therein. This being attended with too much inconvenience, she 
washed herself several times during the day, and, wrapped herself up 
in wet sheets during the night, and then became cured in a short time. 
Some mix a little superstition with this treatment, thinking that the 
itch can only be cured by bathing on Good Friday. A man who 
suffered severely from this disorder, as also two women, went on a 
Good Friday to a rivulet and bathed in it in their shirts, then 
returned, without taking them off or drying them, went to bed, and 
were entirely cured. Henricus ab Heers relates a case of a young 
man whose hands were chapped and cracked cross-ways, and his skin 
covered with an eruption resembling Elephantiasis, together with a 
want of action in his liver. He was ordered to be laid on a straw 
bed and placed under a mill-stream, so that the water might fall from 
a considerable height upon the region of the liver. This was repeated 
twice a day, early in the morning, and an hour and a half before 
supper. By continuing this treatment several days, and taking cooling 
medicines, such as whey with prunella salt, he became perfectly cured. 

" The healing virtues of cold water can never be sufficiently praised 
in wounds or sores of old standing. A gentleman of my acquaintance 
had an ulcer on his foot, which he cured by frequently bathing in 
a pond ; and, whenever it threatened to reopen, speedily re-esta- 
blished the cure by the same means. A fisherman had a large 
ulcerated abscess in his thigh, which had continued, in spite of every 
remedy, for the space of two years. The fear that water would 
aggravate the evil had caused him to abandon his pursuits, but the 
prospect of starvation compelled him again to renew them. He went 
into the water to fish, and coming out after two hours, was agreeably 
surprised to find the sore much less painful. This induced him to go 
daily into the river, and in a short time he became perfectly cured. 

" I have particularly observed that rapid streams and rivers are 
much more efficacious in healing bad sores than water in tubs ; the 
more so when the patient wades against the stream, as then the water 

31 



162 APPENDIX. 

enters and cleanses the ulcer more effectually. The stream of 
fresh water being constantly brought forcibly against it, separates 
and washes off the slough, together with the sharp, acrid, corroding 
matter. One of my colleagues had a patient with a swollen and 
ulcerated thigh, who derived but little benefit from bathing the 
part in a tub of cold water ; he was, therefore, ordered to bathe it in 
a running stream. In a short time the ulcer became perfectly 
healed. The cure would be effected by bathing the diseased part 
in a tub, but would require a much longer time. I have ordered 
my patients to let their sores remain soaking in water for several 
days and nights, as tanners do their skins, to remove their putridity. 
Many cases of this kind may be met with in Dr. Schwertner's 
Medicina Universalis. 

" I have also witnessed the good effects of water in St. Anthony's 
fire, which was removed in the course of a few days, without the 
slightest injury to the skin ; whereas, on the other hand, the appli- 
cation of rose-pink and white lead in powder, or of fat, oily po- 
mades, and plasters, impede the perspiration, increase the pain, 
and frequently cause ulcers. Spirituous lotions in some measure 
burn the skin, so that it peels off in large pieces ; in like manner 
other applications only aggravate the disease, and render it more 
difficult and tedious to cure. In those cases where the application 
of water has not succeeded, it has possibly arisen from the patient 
applying it lukewarm, instead of cold. 

" The frequent application of cold water is of the greatest advantage 
in cases of inflammation of the breast. It allays the heat, assuages 
the pain, and, if used at the commencement, causes the inflammation 
to subside. It either discusses an indurated tumour, or if sup- 
puration cannot be prevented, renders the skin soft and pliable, so 
that the maturated pus may form for itself an opening without the 
aid of the lancet. Even cancerous ulcers can bear the application 
of cold water very well ; it refreshes and cleanses them, corrects the 
corrosion, and mitigates the pain. I have met with cases where 
the most bland, innocent, and advisable remedies having proved irri- 
tating and painful, the patients have not only obtained great relief, 
but eventually been cured by using cold water. 

" In acute diseases the fire burns with the greatest violence in the 
interior of the body, but, as may be seen by the thermometer, the 
skin is also affected in a great degree. Where the fire burns, there 
we must quench. Cold water, though taken in large quantities, 



APPENDIX. 163 

does not relieve the burning skin. But, by "washing the body with 
cold water, the patient feels immediately refreshed, and scarcely are 
the sponges applied, before instant relief is obtained. So voluptuous 
is the sensation, that many are unwilling this washing should be 
discontinued ; but, like the rustics Latona changed into frogs, 
would prefer to remain in cold water. 

" Infants who have eruptions between their legs, on their arms, and 
other parts of their bodies, like to be rubbed with cold water, and 
are, by this simple remedy, speedily cured. 

" In exanthematous diseases, as small-pox, measles, scarlet-fever 
and other rashes, we may freely wash with cold water, from first to 
last, during the whole course of the disease, in order to prevent 
the fever from becoming too violent. The skin is thus rendered 
more soft, so that the acrid matter can easily pass through it. In 
small-pox, the corrosive quality of this acrid matter is rendered 
milder, so that it does not eat into the skin, leaving scars behind, 
and very few patients who have been treated this way have been 
marked by the disease. The Africans wash all their small-pox 
patients. A captain, having a cargo of slaves amongst whom this 
disease made its appearance, treated them after the European fashion, 
putting the patients between two mattresses, and otherwise heaping 
bed-clothes upon them, in order to bring out the disease. In great 
distress, they cried and begged to be allowed to treat themselves 
according to their own method ; upon which the other slaves tied 
a rope around the bodies of the sick, and dipped them frequently 
during the day into the sea, drying them afterwards in the sun, and 
in this manner they were cured, and scarcely one died." 

Here the author quotes a variety of cases from Sir John Floyer 
and Dr. Baynard, to show the benefit of cold immersion in small- 
pox during every stage of the disease. 

" It is," he says, " equally beneficial in measles and other rashes ; 
scarcely any one died of them ; and in small-pox not one-fourth of 
the number die that usually perish under the hot regimen. Out of 
156 small-pox patients, which a neighbouring physician had treated 
in this w r ay, only eight died, although the disease raged at the time in 
a virulent manner. In 1737, during the prevalence of a malignant 
epidemic, accompanied with petechice, very few died who were sub- 
mitted to this treatment, although they were washed until they 
became very cool, even during the continued and debilitating sweats. 

" A noble lady, who during a violent fever not knowing what 



164 APPENDIX. 

to do with herself for heat, restless and tossing about, obtained 
immediate relief by dipping her hands into a basin of cold water. 
The blood, being cooled in the veins of the hands, was, in the course 
of circulation, sent into the interior of the body, and a fresh supply 
of heated blood continually rushing to the hands, and there cooled, 
by degrees refreshed the whole body. 

" The Egyptians wash the heads of those suffering from headache, 
and order them to drink abundantly of the Nile water. A hunter, 
who suffered so much from a constant headache, that, raging with 
pain and weary of existence, he felt inclined to dash his head to 
pieces, was happily cured by haying a stream of cold water directed 
upon it. The celebrated Englishman, Dr. Allen, states in his Synopsis, 
that a handkerchief dipped in cold water, and bound round the head, to 
be renewed as often as it becomes warm, will cure the worst headache.* 

" A young man of fashion suffered severely from headache, in 
consequence of wearing his hair long, and thickly covered with 
powder and pomatum. On submitting to have his head shaved, and 
washing it every day with cold water, he obtained immediate relief. 
Septalius observes, that cold applications were of the greatest service 
in headaches. He was in the habit of prescribing a medicine 
termed Oxyrhodinum, composed of vinegar and rose-water, in which 
linen bandages were dipped and applied to the forehead ; and the 
same was also poured from a height upon the coronal suture, or 
crown of the head. 

" The application of cold water to the head is of the greatest 
service in delirium, phrenzy, inflammation of the membranes of the 
brain, and madness." 

* This quotation is not exactly correct. Dr. Allen recommends fasting, and 
drinking a little cold water the first day. " If," says he, " the pain continues, 
the next day, it will he advisahle to take some purging medicine, and to make 
use of sternutatories, and still to refrain from eating or drinking anything, except 
water: hy this means, in two or three days' time, the pain usually goes off." 
Art, 277. In Art. 284, he gives the following as a miscellaneous quotation : 
" There is a way of removing the most sharp pain in the head immediately, by 
a very easy remedy, — viz. hy the application of a napkin, wetted in cold 
water, round the neck, and repeating it, as often as there is occasion, until the 
pain ceases, which it soon will, as if it was cured hy an enchantment; and if it 
return again, it is curable by the same method. But after all," he adds, " it is a 
dangerous experiment, which a regular physician would scarce adventure upon." 
The method mentioned by Dr. Hahn is well known to be efficacious, and was 
frequently had recourse to by George IV. 



APPENDIX. 165 

Here the author relates the case of a servant-girl labouring under 
phrenzy, mentioned by Dr. Willis. Vide p. 118. 

" During the violent fevers of the late raging epidemic, I have 
frequently observed that ice, tied up in a cloth and applied to the 
head in cases of phrenitis, produced a most visible salutary effect, 
and, in the course of a few hours, permanently restored the intellects. 
I have never known a patient die in consequence of this treatment ; 
not that all will be saved who submit to it. Celsus observes, there 
is not anything of such use to the head as cold water ; and recom- 
mends such as are subject to weakness of the head in summer, 
to plunge it into cold running water; also in cases of weakness of 
sight, accompanied with a purulent discharge from the eyes, and in 
enlargement of the glands. Floyer instances its effects on drunk- 
ards, who are relieved of their headaches, become sober, and evacuate 
a large quantity of urine as soon as they are plunged into cold water. 

" Those who are obliged to run or walk any great distance, by 
which violent and long-continued motion the veins of the legs 
become swollen, and accompanied with great fatigue, will find their 
pains relieved, and feel themselves refreshed by taking a cool foot- 
bath. This is made mention of in the Old Testament ; and it was 
considered an indispensable mark of attention to present the newly 
arrived guest with cold water to wash his feet. Floyer confirms this 
fact, and adds, that if one of two men about to run a race bathed his 
feet and thighs in cold water, the one who did so would, cceteris paribus, 
be certain to win. I have, in my own person, frequently experienced the 
good effects of this cold washing ; it seems to draw, as it were, the 
sensation of fatigue out of the legs and thighs ; heavy and weary as 
they feel, they soon become again light and active. An old woman, 
with whom I was acquainted, was, by these means, in her pilgrimages 
to the shrines of saints, able to out-walk her younger companions. 

" The cold bath is of great efficacy in strengthening the organs of 
generation : thus, Nero was in the habit of plunging into the Tiber 
before visiting his mistress. It is an excellent remedy for fluor 
albus, and strongly recommended to prevent abortion, in which 
case the bath should be taken in the evening, after the digestion is 
completed. In some cases it is advantageous to let blood a few days 
before it is used. 

" Father Bernardo, a Sicilian Capuchin monk, performed many 
surprising cures in the island of Malta, in the years 1724 and 1725. 
His practice was to order his patients to drink iced water, and some- 



166 APPENDIX. 

times to take the same as a 'lavement.' He kept them almost 
fasting from one to two months ; and pursued this treatment in 
winter as well as in summer. He cured the Grand Prior Ferretti, 
aged ninety-two, when at the very point of death, giving him iced 
water to drink. It is stated that none of his patients perished, 
either from starvation or otherwise. Thus, by means of ice and 
cold water, he performed a great number of wonderful cures, in cases 
which had been given up by the physicians, so that he was called 
the ' Water Doctor,' many of which are related in a French treatise 
on 'Les Vertues Medicinales de l'Eau commune.' The use of ice 
is known to the Russians, who apply it in the small-pox; and a 
prince of Brunswick cured himself of a severe attack of rheumatism 
by applying ice to the affected part. 

" In cases of cramp, contraction, and paralysis, in addition to 
washing the parts with cold water, it is advisable to wash the 
head, and particularly the back of the neck, as the place from near 
which the nerves in this disease derive their origin. Also to use 
the Douche bath, both to the head, covered with a sponge-cap, and 
to the parts diseased, either exposed or covered with a cloth. The 
action of the water is soon found to produce a warmth in the skin, 
and penetrating deeper than the cold-bath, (i. e. producing a more 
powerful reaction,) operates more quickly and effectually. 

" A woman who had suffered a long time from pains in the back, 
neck, shoulders, and arms, obtaining no relief from the remedies 
employed, at last applied to me for advice. I ordered a stream of 
water to be poured over her naked body in a cool room, the weather 
being also tolerably cold; I then had her wrapped up in sheets, 
dipped in cold water, and which from time to time were renewed. 
She remained in them for two days and nights, fell into a moderate 
perspiration, and in a few days was perfectly cured. 

" During the use of the cold bath we should carefully avoid 
stimulating food and warm clothing, as giving rise to tenderness 
and many disorders, but abstemiously observe a diet moderate and 
cooling; at the same time, freely exposing ourselves to cool fresh 
air, and drinking abundantly of cold water. If we act otherwise, no 
permanent benefit will be obtained from the cold bath, as the original 
disorder would soon return. Therefore, whoever bathes in cold water 
to cure a disorder, must also drink cold water to prevent its return.* 

* These rules are taken from Floyer without acknowledgment, and are precisely 
those followed at Graefenherg. 



APPENDIX. 167 

" Bathing and washing are not only necessary for the sake of 
cleanliness to those in health, but also to avoid such disorders as 
arise from the accumulation of impurities on the skin. My late 
father, in his Psychrolusia, laid down the following rules to be ob- 
served in this respect: — On getting out of bed in the morning, the 
face and whole body should be washed with cold water, first with 
the naked hand, and afterwards with a sponge; pressing the water 
out of the sponge into the eyes and ears ; then rubbing the body 
dry; rincing out the mouth, and drawing the water through the 
nostrils ; and finishing by taking a hip bath. The trouble thus taken 
will be amply repaid by an agreeable sensation of warmth and fresh- 
ness. Sick patients cannot do this; but the attendant should wash 
them over with a sponge dipped in cold water; and apply bandages 
(umschlage,) also clipped in cold ivater, especially to the diseased parts, 
suffering from heat, pain, swelling, eruptions, d'c, not merely once a 
day, but oftener, as the greater or less degree of intensity of the disease 
may require. 

" A man, seventy-five years of age, was seized with a violent fever, 
and treated in the usual way, according to the hot regimen. A rash 
made its appearance, whilst his strength became gradually more 
and more exhausted. Lying constantly on his back, the skin over 
the sacrum became inflamed and ulcerated. The patient remained 
in this state for six weeks, when a hardness and swelling was ob- 
served about the knees ; the lower extremities had become stiff, be- 
numbed, and immoveable; the muscles were shrivelled up. The 
stimulating heating treatment was now abandoned; cooling emul- 
sions, and water, mixed with, the juice of lemons and raspberries, 
ordered to be drank. Linen rags, dipped in cold water, were fre- 
quently applied to the inflamed and ulcerated parts over the sacrum. 
The same were also applied to the knees, notwithstanding the rash on 
the thighs and other parts of the body, and continually renewed night 
and day. After a few days, cold foot-baths were used, and moist 
napkins were applied to the feet. This cooling treatment gave im- 
mediate relief. The feverish heat left him, and the rash disappeared. 
He recovered the use of his legs and thighs, and within three weeks 
was perfectly restored to health; and declared, that after this water 
treatment he enjoyed better health than he had done for the last 
thirty years. 

" A girl, ten years of age, took the measles ; the throat became 
sore ; on the fifth day apthee appeared on the tongue ; the sub- 



168 



APPENDIX. 



maxillary glands became enlarged and painful ; the tongue thickly 
furred with a white border, on which the impression of the teeth 
was visible; from the face to the soles of her feet were numerous 
confluent red spots, accompanied with much itching. On the sixth 
day the measles raised themselves a little. She was now constantly 
washed with cold water, and the same given her to drink. On the 
seventh the throat was better, and the eruption became somewhat 
paler. The night of the eighth day was passed in much restless- 
ness ; the glands ulcerated on the inside. On the ninth the face 
began to desquamate; and on the following days the epidermis 
peeled off in such quantities, that I am in possession of a piece from 
her arm nine inches in length. 

" A lady of rank, whose parents had suffered from rheumatic 
contractions of the joints, was also afflicted with the same disorder. 
Her elbows were much enlarged ; by washing with cold water, and 
sometimes rubbing with snow, the disease was arrested, and the en- 
largements greatly diminished." 

Dr. Hahn states he has cured many cases of insanity by causing 
the patients to drink largely of cold water. " Such," he says, " as 
would not drink I had chained up, and gave them salt herrings to 
eat; and by thus exciting thirst, they eagerly drank the water 
placed before them. One of them, who ate, for several days running, 
from eight to twelve herrings, and drank eight quarts of water, was 
cured in three weeks." 



EXTRACTS FROM SIR JOHN FLOYER AND DR. BAYNARD ON THE COLD BATH, 
AND DRINKING COLD WATER. 

Sir John Floyer practised at Lichfield, and was a physician of 
considerable eminence in his day. His treatise on Asthma and the 
Physician's Pulse-watch still enjoy considerable reputation. The 
Psychrolusia, or History of Cold Bathing, was first published in 1702, 
and went through many editions. It was translated into various 
languages ; a large portion of Dr. Hahn's treatise was extracted 
from it, and a curious French work, " Sur les Vertues Medicinales de 
l'Eau commune," was in part compiled from the same source. Sir 
John's friend, Dr. Baynard, very successfully adopted this practice, 
and their works have always been published together. 

Sir John Floyer commences with remarks on the antiquities of 



APPENDIX. 169 

cold bathing in the cure of various disorders, and supposes its disuse 
in England may proceed from the change of religious opinions. 
" Anciently," he says, " most springs of remarkably pure or cold water 
were dedicated to some saint, and consequently the virtues of these 
holy wells were imputed to the saint." He notices that cold ablutions, 
as a religious ceremony, derived their origin from the salutary effects 
of cold water on the body. That baptism was formerly performed, 
down to Queen Elizabeth's time, by the total immersion of the whole 
body, which was repeated three times, and not by sprinkling or by 
pouring water on the head. Adults were also thus baptized by 
the primitive church, and entirely naked, even women (by dea- 
conesses) as well as men. It was thus St. John baptized Jesus 
Christ, who was dipped three times in the river Jordan. The ancient 
Scythians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, made frequent use of the 
cold bath. Hippocrates, Celsus, Cselius Aurelianus, iEtius, Paulus 
iEgineta, and many other ancient physicians, bear testimony to its 
efficacy in various diseases. The ancient German and Celtic nations, 
the Tartars, Highlanders, Welsh, Irish, Indians, and many others, 
were and are in the practice of washing and bathing children with 
cold water. Its utility in preventing and curing the rickets is well 
known, so that it is a common saying amongst nurses, "that no 
child has the rickets unless he has a dirty slut for his nurse." 

The Greeks and Romans dedicated their springs and rivers ; the 
ancient Greeks had their sacred fountains. The efficacy of cold 
bathing was well known from the most remote periods in the history 
of nations, and was had recourse to, combined with sweating, for the 
cure of almost every disease, especially cutaneous diseases and con- 
tractions of the limbs. He then mentions the pool of Bethesda, and 
relates an anecdote from Bishop Hall's " Mystery of Godliness." — A 
cripple, who for sixteen years moved on his hands, the sinews of his 
legs being contracted, had a monition in his dream, to wash in a well 
at St. Maderne's in Cornwall, by which he was suddenly restored to 
his limbs. The bishop took a particular account of this story, and 
had it sufficiently attested by the neighbours. 

There is scarcely any cold spring famous for any cures, but it is 
also commended for scabs and leprosy, which, he observes, must be 
grounded on the experience of those times in which the leprosy was 
cured by cold bathing. Mentioning St. Unite's Well, near Lichfield, 
he says, "I found these baths very beneficial for all rheumatic pains, 
paralytic weaknesses, and stiffness after rheumatism, and cured a 



170 APPENDIX. 

countryman of a weakness in both his arms by twice bathing, after 
he had tried all usual methods for two or three months in vain. 
Though it relieves the weakness and stiffness of the limbs, yet in 
cases of gout no great good can be expected without drinking water, 
taking a cool saline aperient, and observing a temperate diet." He 
then gives the following cautions : — 

"1. To bleed and purge, and use such proper diet and medicines, 
both before and after bathing, as are suitable to the disease and the 
constitution of the patient. 

" 2. Not to bathe when hot and sweating; not to stay in the bath 
above two or three minutes, or as the patient can easily bear it ; and 
to go in and out immediately, on the first bathing, after an immersion 
of the whole body. 

" 3. To use the cold bath before dinner, fasting, or else in the 
afternoon, towards four or five o'clock ; it is dangerous to go in after 
great eating or drinking. 

" 4. Continue to bathe nine or ten times, and at least two or three 
times a week. 

" 5. To use sweating with cold bathing, in palsies and rickets, and 
several diseases affecting the nerves with obstructions. 

"6. In windiness or sizyness of the humours, or their flatulency, 
no sweating is necessary, nor when bathing is used for preservation 
of health, or the invigorating of the animal spirits. 

" The use of common cold water is well known to farriers, who have 
a method of curing foundered horses by it thus : — Take a foundered 
horse within forty-four hours after his being foundered, ride him till 
he foam and sweat much, then ride him into the water to the saddle 
skirts, keep him there for an hour, then gallop him to the stable, tie 
him to the rack, and let him not eat for four hours, dress him, litter 
him, and put blankets on him to sweat, and cool him by degrees. 

" I have also been informed, that the way of sweating by cold water, 
is thus practised to diminish the weight of a horse-jockey. Dip the 
rider's shirt in cold water, and after it is put on very wet, lap the 
person in warm blankets to sweat him violently, and he will lose a 
considerable weight — a pound or two. 

" To put the feet into cold water stops uterine hsemorrhagy, and to 
use cold water in the hip-bath cures the haemorrhoids ; washing the 
feet in cold water prevents corns."* 

* It is well known to the fly-fishers in the north of England, that wading in 
the rivers is a certain cure for corns. 



APPENDIX. 171 

The advice upon regimen closely resembles that observed at 
Graefenberg, viz. to abstain from excess of animal food, to feed 
much on fruits, and to drink water; not to use hot things, high 
sauces, brandy, spirits, fermented liquors, salt meat, spices, tea, coffee, 
and chocolate. Not to wear warm clothing. " Flannels," he says, 
"renders the person very tender, and subject to the changes of weather, 
and too much perspiration." Not to sit much by the fire, but to take 
exercise in the open air, riding or walking, and that down beds are 
very injurious. 

" Gold baths are the chief and most effectual means in the cold 
regimen; nothing preserves the body so well from the injuries of the 
weather as cold bathing, which makes the skin more tense and 
contracted, and consequently more insensible to the changes of the 
air, its cold and moisture. I have known many endure the cold of 
the winter after the use of cold baths, who always found their bodies 
more tender after the use of hot baths all the winter following; and the 
truth of this will appear by the cures I shall relate of two tender persons. 

" The usefulness of cold baths was discovered by the inhabitants of 
cold countries, who generally fortify themselves against the cold air 
by the immersion of their bodies into cold water; and, to prevent 
the mortification of their limbs, rub the frozen parts with snow. 
Cold baths will produce great sweats. When any diseased humours 
are in any part stopped in their circulation, or mixed with the blood, 
it seems the most rational method to sweat at the first use of cold 
baths; but where there is no evacuation of humours necessary, 
sweating is not proper after cold bathing, but only gentle exercise or 
friction. It is further to be remarked that most of our ailments 
proceed from an excessive hot regimen or a very hot diet in a cold 
climate, as strong wines, brandy, high sauces, &c, and also by using 
ourselves over tenderly in clothes, warm beds, hot rooms, &c. We 
must remove the external causes of our tenderness, and use a cool 
temperate diet, cool liquors, cool air about us, as well as cold baths : 
for no perfect cure can be expected from cold baths, unless we avoid 
the occasions of our diseases; for if we continue any excess in our 
hot regiment, that will again renew those diseases the cold bath has 
cured. And I generally make this observation, that where cold 
bathings are necessary, for the cure of a disease, then drinking of 
cold water is also necessary to prevent a relapse into the same. " 

The following are the two cases above alluded to, and, with many 
others, quoted by Dr. Hahn. Mrs. Bates, of Ashby-de-la-Zouche, in 



172 APPENDIX. 

Leicestershire, being above fifty years old, was esteemed by her 
neighbours consumptive, because she coughed much, and suffered 
from bad rheumatic pains near twenty years ; had the sciatica, with 
a weakness and numbness in her knee, so that she was lame, and had 
little use of her legs. She sat constantly by the fire covered with 
much clothing, and was so tender, that she was afraid to venture 
into the open air. She complained of a pain in her back, which she 
imagined to be the stone, and had much pain in her breast, which 
she thought cancerous. In the summer of 1699, she went to Willow- 
bridge cold bath, in Staffordshire, which is a very cold water, and 
feels smooth and oily, where she bathed constantly once a-day, and 
drank many glasses of the same water every day. She continued 
this method of treatment for a month. The sore breast pained her 
very much the first time she went into the water, being up to the 
neck, but never afterwards. Upon the second time of going into 
the bath the pain in the hip fell into the foot. By continuing the 
bath she became ■ perfectly cured, and the pains have never since 
returned. She now walks well, eats well, wears fewer clothes, is 
cured of the pain in her back, and the swelling in her breast, which 
was perhaps a milk tumour, and had continued there many years. 
Yet she continues drinking the water ever since. 

" Mrs. Watts of Leicester went to the cold bath at London about 
Michaelmas in 1699. She was troubled with continual vomiting, 
wandering pains in her limbs and head, convulsive motions or 
twitchings of the muscles, violent hysterical fits, colic, flatulency, 
continual sweatings, loss of appetite, an emaciated state of the body, 
extreme tenderness, sensible of the slightest change in the weather, 
accompanied with chilliness, vapours, faintness, and pains, especially 
in the teeth. Tonics, as bark and iron, emetics and opiates, were 
tried in vain, neither did she derive any benefit from the use of the 
Bath waters and warm bathing. Under the advice of Dr. Baynard, 
she had recourse to the cold bath, and used two-and-twenty baths 
within the space of a month, dipping herself under water six or 
seven times every morning, without staying in the water any longer 
than the time of immersion, and went warm from her bed to the 
water. By this bathing the skin contracted, and she was never very 
tender since, nor subject to colds as before. She recovered her 
strength and appetite, and became more plump. The sweatings, 
flatulency, pains and convulsions ceased. Both during and after the 
use of the cold baths she consumed many hundreds of lemons, either 



APPENDIX. 173 

sucking the juice or squeezing it into water ; she also found great 
benefit by the use of cream of tartar, half an ounce or one ounce in 
water gruel for the hysterical vomiting." 

Extract from the Letter of Dr. Ellison of Newcastle. 

" Nothing is more common in this country, and proves more gene- 
rally successful for the preventing and curing of rickets, than to send 
children of a year old and upwards to St. Bede's, Honwick, or 
St. Mungo's wells (which are extremely cold springs), and in the 
months of June and July, to dip them in the evening for a fortnight 
or longer, intermitting a day or two, or more, in the whole, if the 
child be very weak. 

" Some dip them twice or thrice over head and ears with their 
shifts and night-caps on, giving them a little time to breathe between 
each immersion. Others dip them no farther than the neck, (because 
the water is apt to stop their breath,) and dip their night-caps 
thoroughly, and put them wet on their heads. Others content them- 
selves to put the children into a tub of water, gathered from the 
spring, and dash the water upon them over head and ears. All 
which immersions are to be despatched as quickly as may be, that so 
the child may not continue in the water any longer than is necessary, 
that is, till his body, shift, and night-cap be thoroughly wet. 

" As soon as the children are dipped, they, with their wet clothes on, 
are wrapped up in warm blankets over their head and whole body, 
and put immediately to bed, which instantly puts them into a violent 
sweat. In this condition they lie all night, till towards morning 
the clothes are taken off by degrees, that so they may cool gradually, 
and in the morning they have dry shirts and head-clothes put on. 
The children are not debarred their usual diet or play ; only care 
must be taken to keep their necks warm, to secure them from catch- 
ing cold. I never heard that any children, who had only the rickets, 
died of dipping, and few or none but found great benefit by it. 

" People of all ages resort to these two wells for various complaints. 
Adults remain in a quarter or near half an hour, their backs or 
diseased parts being well rubbed during the time. They use no 
preparative physic, nor observe any diet before nor afterwards, but 
a draught of warm ale or sack, to comfort them after they come out. 
The sick go to bed immediately afterwards, and sweat for two hours 



1 74 APPENDIX. 

or more. But the healthy, who go in for pleasure, put on their 
clothes and walk about. Immediately on coming out they find a great 
warmth all over, and feel more nimble and their joints more pliant. 
It is usual to bathe every day, or twice a day, for a fortnight or a 
month, according as their complaint may require more or less bathing. 

" ' My boy,' writes a lady of quality, l was at the cold bath about 
three weeks, and was dipped twenty-eight times, that is, first nine 
times, and then rested some days ; and he was often dipped twice in 
a day, morning and afternoon, and, after each time, he was put to 
bed, and sweat but very moderately (being a weak child), but others, 
who are stronger, sweat more, and, after the rest mentioned, they dip 
him three times more, and so a third time. The way of dipping 
was thus : a woman plunges the child over head and ears, and then 
sets them on their feet in the water, and rubs them all over, especially 
their limbs, back, and belly ; they plunge and rub them thrice, and 
that is called one dipping ; they must not be above three minutes in 
doing this. If the children do not sweat, they put their maids to 
bed to them. The children purge as long as they use the cold 
bathing, but that ceases as soon as they leave it off.' '' By this letter, 
says Sir John, we may observe that a long use of bathing is neces- 
sary for curing the rickets, which was the child's disease. 

The following is an interesting case : — " Mrs. Piser, of Repton, in 
Derbyshire, was severely afflicted by rheumatism, which had lasted 
four years. The joints of her elbows, wrists, knees, and ancles were 
very much enlarged and knotted, and so tender that she could not 
suffer any motion in them. The fingers were closely contracted, so 
that she could not move them, nor any other of her limbs. Her 
hands and arms were strangely distorted by the contraction of the 
sinews. Her body was much emaciated, and she had a short cough. 
I began by letting blood and purging once, for her strength could 
not bear any more. This was done by way of preparation for the 
bathing afterwards. She was dipped in a chair three times at each 
bathing, and she bathed nine times in the whole. The wet cold 
weather caused us to leave it off, though she found a great refresh- 
ment always after it. She was put to bed after bathing, and sweat 
plentifully, by the help of warm ale and spirits of hartshorn. Once 
or twice she did not sweat, and found herself not so well relieved as 
by sweating. By this treatment her pains and swellings presently 
remitted, and after a while went quite away. She began to use her 
arms and feet, which she had not done for three quarters of a year 



APPENDIX. 175 

before. She improved in appetite, increased in flesh, and the dry 
cough abated. As soon as I found the pains abated, I prescribed 
some steel and antiscorbutics, and ointments for the contracted 
sinews, by which she received some benefit, and continues very well 
in all parts but one leg, where the sinews under her knee are not yet 
come to the full length." 

" Sweating is necessary in bathing for rheumatism, and it must be 
well observed as a particular circumstance, that where we design 
sweating, we must not keep the patients long in the water, but only 
dip them thrice, and immediately take them out again, that the 
natural heat may quickly return, and raise a sweat to discuss 
tumours and pains. I have also observed that evacuations and 
alteratives, and ointments are necessary, as indicated by the disease, 
besides the bathing ; therefore, I believe, cold bathing can never be 
made a quack medicine, to be prescribed alone, nor to be used for 
all diseases, but, according to physical indications, in company with 
other medicines, and then they will perform very great cures." 

Extracts from Dr. Baynard concerning cold immersions, &c. 

In speaking of some most remarkable cures done by cold water, 
and which had fallen under his own eye and observation, he thus 
assures the reader of his veracity. " I always (I thank God) looked 
upon it as most impious, and one of the worst of wickednesses (in 
serious things) to impose upon the living, but much more to banter, 
and hand down a falsehood to posterity. A fault (I doubt) too 
many of our physic observators have been guilty of." 

He then quotes ancient and modern authorities on the medicinal 
virtues of cold water, and afterwards gives a great many cases 
proving the efficacy of cold bathing in a variety of diseases. 

" Samuel Crew suffered from rheumatic pains all over his body, in 
the muscles as well as in the joints, contraction and hardness of the 
calf of the leg, and of the abdominal muscles; was reduced to a 
skeleton, so that he became raw and galled with lying on his back, 
and was unable, for half a year, to move hand or foot. Shooting 
pains in his ears, as if a red hot iron had been run into them, so 
that the pain was distracting. Obstinate constipation, a motion 
only once in four or five days by purgatives. Consulted several 
physicians, who prescribed purging, bleeding much, and very often, 
and perspiring a whole month together. Took viper powders, pearl 
cordials, sal volatile, spirits of hartshorn, wood drinks, &c. (or, 



176 APPENDIX. 

stomachic powders, the compound powder of prepared chalk ; liquor 
ammonia, and the compound decoction of sarsaparilla). The warm 
bath at Bath greatly increased the pains. Dr. Baynard recom- 
mended him to plunge into a cold bath, over head and ears, every 
morning fasting ; to use ground pine, germander, a little white 
horehound, acidulated with crab-verjuice, for ordinary drink. In 
six days' bathing and using the drink he was able to walk, the pains 
insensibly vanished, the appetite returned, he slept sound, and reco- 
vered his strength, flesh, and colour. 

" A countryman at Harrow-on-the-Hill, suifering from severe 
arthritic (rheumatic 1) and spasmodic pains for nearly six months, 
lost the use of his lower extremities, so that he was unable to 
stand. He tried various remedies in vain, and had been salivated 
with mercury. He was entirely liberated from his complaints and 
restored to perfect health by taking a single cold bath, but he took 
two or three more in order to prevent a relapse. 

" A learned gentleman, a doctor of laws (says Dr. Baynard), told me 
that, being light headed in a fever, and most intensely hot and 
thirsty, he got from his nurse, and rushed into a horsepond in the 
yard, and there stayed above half an hour. It brought him presently 
to his senses, and allayed both his heat and thirst. After which, 
when in bed, he fell into a sound sleep, and when he awaked (in a 
great sweat), he found he was well ; but complained of a severe pain 
in his head for some time after, which he himself thinks proceeded 
from not wetting his head. 

" The servant of Sir Thomas Yarborough, during the delirium of 
the small-pox, got from his bed and plunged into a piece of water, 
but was presently got out. The small-pox seemed to be sunk and 
struck in, but upon his going to bed they came out very kindly, and 
he safely recovered." Dr. B. then relates another similar case, where 
the patient remained a considerable time in the water, and after- 
wards sat in his wet shirt. On putting on a dry one and going to bed, 
he complained of feeling faint, then drank a good draught of some 
cordial, went to sleep, awaked very well, and in a little time recovered. 

" Dr. Dover of Bristol relates that a waiter at Oxford, during the 
small-pox, went into a great tub of water, and sat there at least two 
hours, yet recovered and did well. 

" At a school in Dorsetshire, thirty or more boys, one after another, 
fell sick of the small-pox. The nurse gave them nothing but milk 
and apples during the whole course, and they all recovered. One 



APPENDIX. 177 

^°J? D y command of his parents, followed another treatment, and 
had nearly died. 

" During the great plague in 1665, a brewer's servant at Horsley- 
down, in Southwark, was seized with it, and in his delirium ran into 
a horsepond, first drank his fill, and then fell fast asleep, with his 
head upon the pond's brink, where he was found in the morning. 
How long he had been in the pond nobody knew, but he recovered 
to a miracle. 

" It was observed that such as dwelt in water-mills, and kept home 
also, watermen, bargemen, &c, that were employed on the river, were 
not at all, or rarely, infected with the plague. It is said, there were 
but two persons died on the bridge in the whole time of the visitation." 
" Sir Henry Coningsby, when a young man, suffered severely from 
the gout. He is now in his S8th year, and continues to take away 
sixteen or eighteen ounces of blood once every three months. He 
drinks nothing but spring water, and now and then a little brandy. 
Formerly his fingers and toes were full of chalk stones, which had 
become entirely dissolved and dissipated, and the joints were reduced 
to their natural size by the use of the cold bath, which the old knight 
was positive would infallibly cure the gout in every person." 

In a letter from Sir Henry, giving an account of his own case, he 
states, that when about thirty years old, all his lower parts were 
seized with a numbness. He applied to Sir Theodore Mayerne, Dr. 
Winston, Dr. Prujean, and other eminent physicians, who agreed it 
was a case of palsy. They abstained from letting blood, which seemed 
rather to fix the distemper, prescribed sudorifics, and various other 
medicines ; but all sense of outward feeling and heat was lost, so that 
nettles would not sting him, or clothes make him warm. He 
continued some years under this treatment, still for the worse. Tired 
in body, mind, and purse, he at last resolved upon trying a contrary 
mode of cure ; was therefore bled once a month, used all the cold 
means ; went into a cold spring-water bath at all times of the year, 
but commenced in the summer. The first time he went into the cold 
bath it blotched him in one place (that is, brought out an eruption), 
and so every day more and more by pimples rising, and then dying 
away. It gently excoriated the cuticle, opened the pores, and 
restored the natural heat. He ever afterwards, for forty years, 
continued his own doctor. 

Here follow two cases of chronic catarrh cured by cold bathing. 
One, by accident, the man fell into the water, which was covered with 



178 APPENDIX. 

ice, up to his neck. He went home, got a warm shirt, took some 
broth, or other warm liquor, slept soundly, and the next day found 
himself nearly free from his cough. Then four or five of rheumatism. 
" Samuel Greenhill, a substantial yeoman, was seized with rheumatism 
in every joint, which had become swollen, and as big as if blown up 
by a bladder, and continued so for at least six weeks. He was 
wrapped up in flannel, and unable to move without assistance. He 
was, therefore, put into a chair, and thus let down into the bath, and 
before three minutes were over, was brought up again. He was able 
immediately afterwards to walk up stairs, and in an hour's time 
walked back to his lodgings. In less than a fortnight his joints 
were reduced to their usual size ; he fully recovered his health, and 
continued to follow his occupation. (This is certainly a most sur- 
prising case of the almost instantaneous cure of acute rheumatism 
by cold bathing.) 

Dr. B. observes that those who use cold baths are not so dry or 
thirsty as other people, and although very thirsty when they get into 
them, yet in a little time the thirst will disappear or abate. He 
then relates an anecdote of a countryman, who, during a discussion, 
as to the best means of getting an appetite, declared he had tried all 
the ways proposed ; " but nothing," said the man, " is like going 
a-fishing, up to the chin in water for an hour or two ; that will get 
you a stomach, I'll warrant you, nor am I dry." 

" No men live so long and are so healthy, as the washers and 
dabblers in cold water. An old fisherman said, that little sleep, a 
cool diet, and thin clothes, were the only means to live healthy and 
long, and that the water-air made him eat heartily. He has known 
many old watermen and fishermen full or near a hundred ; and it is 
told, that at Witney, in Oxfordshire, those who work at the blanket- 
mills carrying wet blankets in their arms, next their breasts, winter and 
summer, not only never catch cold, but live to an extreme old age. 

" Cold water concentrates the spirits, strengthens the nerves, and 
braces up the muscular fibres, so that the body becomes capable of 
greater exertion, as may be proved by running and leaping before 
and after a bath. It is also a powerful aphrodisiac, spicula veneris 
acuit frigus. One well versed in these matters used to declare, that 
the temple of Venus was a pond of water ; for she, that was born at 
sea, was out of her element on dry land. This is corroborated by 
several of our winter bathers, who have complained that all the 
injury they have found from cold bathing, even in frost and snow, 



APPENDIX. 179 

• 

was that it did faniein ac venereni nimis augere. There can be no 
doubt the following case, related by Henricus ab Heers, would have 
been cured by the cold bath : — 

" Illustris quidani Anglus spadam venit ante annos quindecim 
impotenti^e remedium quserens. Quando fceminam hie vir enervatus 
voluit aniplectare, ad primum labioruni contactum semen eniittebat, 
sed imbelle et prorsus aqueum et sero simillimuni ; uxorem duxerat 
annos natam sedecim, sed quam toto biennio, etiani se fatente, non 
devirginaverat ; optime erat habitus, corpore procero, eusarcos, genis 
rubentissirnis. 

" The cold bath is also one of the best remedies in the world to 
prevent miscarriage, and strengthen the uterine system, especially if 
taken towards bed-time. In some cases it may be advisable to lose 
a little blood a day or two before. 

" It is useful in cutaneous diseases. A young woman who had 
suffered from the itch for some years, was perfectly cured by the 
cold bath. The itch, that seemed almost leprous, with maturated 
boils on the whole body, especially on the hands, which swelled the 
fingers to such a degree, together with the soreness of the chaps in 
the folding of the hands, I have known cured in four or five immer- 
sions, so that the bladders that seemed maturated and full of pus, have 
shrunk and subsided, and peeled off without any physic, but only 
moderating the diet, forbearing strong drink, and using exercise." 

Mr. Penn's Letter to Dr. Baynard. 

" As I find the Indians upon the continent more incident to fevers 
than any other distempers, so they rarely fail to cure themselves by 
great sweating, and immediately plunging themselves into cold water, 
which, they say, is the only way not to catch cold. 

" I once saw an instance of it with divers more in company. For, 
being upon a discovery of the back part of the country, I called 
upon an Indian of note, whose name was Tenoughan, the captain- 
general of the clans of Indians of those parts. I found him ill of a 
fever, his head and limbs much affected with pain, and at the same 
time his wife preparing a bagnio for him. The bagnio resembled 
a large oven, into which he crept, by a door on the one side, while 
she put several red-hot stones in at a small door on the other side 
thereof, and then fastened the doors as closely from the air as she 
could. Now while he was sweating in this bagnio, his wife (for they 

n2 



180 APPENDIX. 

disdain no service) was, with an axe, cutting her husband a passage 
into the river (being the winter 1683, the great frost, and the ice 
very thick) in order to the immersing himself, after he should come 
out of the bath. In less than half an hour he was in so great a 
sweat, that when he came out he was as wet as if he had come out of 
a river, and the reek or steam of his body so thick, that it was hard 
to discern any body's face that stood near him. In this condition, 
stark naked (his breech-cloth only excepted) he ran to the river, 
which was about twenty paces, and ducked himself twice or thrice 
therein, and so returned (passing only through his bagnio to mitigate 
the immediate stroke of the cold) to his own house, perhaps twenty 
paces further, and, wrapping himself in his woollen mantle, lay down 
at his length near a long (but gentle) fire in the middle of his 
wigwam, or house, turning himself several times, till he was dry, and 
then he rose and fell to getting us our dinner, seeming to be as easy 
and well in health as at any other time. 

" This tradition was in great measure, however, the loss of one of 
the bravest of the nations of Indians (remembered by Captain Smith, 
in his History of the Settlement of Virginia) called the Sasquenahs. 
For having, after the coming of the Europeans among them, learned 
to drink strong liquors, and eat freely of swine's flesh (mostly without 
salt) it brought the small-pox among them ; they took the same 
method to cure themselves of it, when they were come out, which 
struck to their heart, and proved more mortal than the plague, few 
escaping the disease, by reason of that improper practice ; though 
one would think that before they came out it might have moderated 
their venom and impression. 

" I am well assured that they wash their young infants in cold 
streams as soon as born, in all seasons of the year. W. P." * 

Dr. B. considers the best water for drink is such as will lather 
easily with soap, and is light, clear, and smooth to the taste, such as 
generally are marl or chalk waters. Of this sort of water, horses, 
cows, and other cattle prefer to drink, and rather choose to drink 
pond, ditch, or turbid puddle water, than the clearest springs from 
clay or gravel, there being in such waters some harsh and disagree- 
able particles, either to their palates or digestions. After other 
remarks, he concludes that well-water is the worst. 

* This letter is valuable, not merely on account of the information it contains 
but as proceeding from the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania. 



APPENDIX. 181 

Baglini states, that " as wines, luxury, indolence and repletion, are 
the parents of the gout and the gravel, so can they only be cured by 
exercise and sobriety, by drinking water and a milk diet." 

Dr. B. gives an account of several other remarkable cures per- 
formed by the cold bath, in cases he and Dr. Cole, the friend and 
correspondent of Sydenham, were called in to visit : rheumatic con- 
tractions of the limbs, paralysis of the cervical muscles, from distor- 
tion of the vertebrae, and a severe case of colic. 

The case of Mrs. Heathcot. — This lady was newly arrived from 
Jamaica. She was so very weak, and her case seemed so deplorable 
'and complicated with fits, partly hysterical, partly epileptic, was of 
such a spare habit, so extremely thin, that he entertained little, very 
little hope of her recovery. She first tried the Bath waters, in the 
Queen's bath, but found herself much worse ; then removed, by small 
journeys, to London, consulted the president of the College and other 
physicians without deriving any benefit. Dr. B. and Dr. Cole pro- 
posed the artificial tepid bath, but equally in vain. It was then 
determined, as a desperate resource, to try the cold bath. " A shock- 
ing proposal," says Dr. B., " to so tender and weak a woman, but 
lately come from the torrid zone." He adds, " she readily consented 
to the experiment, and tried it, with a resolution and a courage not 
usual in her sex, and by her perseverance and a blessing attending 
the means, she is recovered beyond all expectation. She had two 
most severe convulsions, at, or presently after, her first going into 
the cold bath. Yet no ways daunted, she proceeded, though many 
times with jerks and twitches of the muscles, but which at last 
vanished and went off." In this case one thing is very remarkable : 
finding herself not well, with pain in her head, back, &c. and not 
knowing the cause, she continued her bathing as usual, but it proved 
the small-pox forming upon her ; yet she escaped, and came through 
it very well, and little or no impression left on her face where they 
had been. The last time I saw this lady, she told me she had been 
in the cold bath more than one hundred and fifty times." * 

The next case is that of Mrs. Margaret Bray, who, after being per- 
fectly cured by the cold bath, and having laid aside her crutches, had 
one day been riding hard in the heat of the weather, which was then 
excessively hot, and overheated by violent exercise, went unadvisedly 

* This case is valuable, as showing that the application of cold water to the 
surface during the eruptive fever of the exanthemata is beneficial. 



182 APPENDIX. 

with the heat upon her, into the cold bath, which threw her into 
a cholic, and the poor young lady died. 

A smith had a cancer (ulcer 1) on his right side, that had eaten 
the flesh to the ribs, and as broad as the largest man's hand, was 
perfectly cured by bathing in a mineral water, and keeping a cloth 
wet in the same water always to it. Dr. B. then quotes another case 
of cancer cured by drinking and washing in a cold spring, and adds, 
" they were wonderful cures, if true cancers," which he very much 
doubts, " as the most eminent surgeons affirm that they never knew 
a true and confirmed cancer to be cured.' 1 

" My old friend, Mr. E. Bigby, M. P. for Preston, has a very cold* 
well, dedicated to St. Anne, where a great many cures are performed 
both by washing and drinking." He sent him a great many cases 
too long to insert : the principal were all sorts of sores, also sore eyes, 
worms in children and grown-up people, swelled legs, rickets, wan- 
dering pains, or rheumatism, &c. It was resorted to with success 
by a great many people. 

He mentions the cold baths at Batheaston, near Bath, and states, 
that cold baths do the greatest cures to people who have been in the 
hot baths first : and that he has known many cases which neither 
hot nor cold baths have touched singly ; yet joined, that is, succes- 
sively used, they have performed the cure. It is to be remembered 
Dr. Baynard practised at Bath, and had ample opportunities of 
judging their relative effects. The following is important : — " Some 
of the best cures done by the cold bath is from a sudden plunge over 
head, and then immediately to go out. This should be repeated two 
or three times during the day, especially twice in the morning, an 
hour or two between each immersion, when the stomach is empty ; 
but staying long in weakens the force of the nerves, and the benefit 
of the immersion is lost. Thus a bow, drawn smoothly to the 
arrow's point, and that moment let fly, the arrow soars aloft, and 
answers the intention of the shooter ; but if it be drawn to the head, 
and there held five or six minutes, the fibres of the bow being weak- 
ened by so long a tension, it hardly has strength to eject it from the 
station of the archer." He then gives some cases where the patients 
remaining in too long, became so chilled, that the re-action did not 
take place, and suffered much injury in consequence. 

" Those who drink water and use a spare diet not only enjoy better 
health than others, but usually bring sound and healthful children 
into the world, and are not easily angered or disturbed by the turbu- 



APPENDIX. 183 

lent passions of the mind. On the other hand, the proud, haughty, 
froward, ill-natured, that vex and fret at every trifle, together with 
their high savoury sauces, wine and strong drink at every meal, sup- 
ping in the morning and dining at supper time, bring into the world 
a brood of miserable, small, king's-evilly, scabby, rickety infants.* 

" Rickets was formerly a rare disease, but in the time of Charles I. 
it became almost epidemical, few families escaping it, especially those 
that were rich and opulent, and put their children out to nurse ; 
when, through unnatural usage, and vicious disagreeable milk, the 
infant was soon spoiled by contracting from the drunken nurse 
cacochpnious, or depraved juices. Hence, with the growing infant 
grew up the boot fashion for the men, and long coats for the women ; 
for they were so ashamed of their crooked legs that they wore boots 
to hide them. This beginning at court, all must follow the fashion 
and wear boots too, with great boot hose, tops of fine linen, laced, &c. 
and jingling spurs. Hence the Spanish ambassador, on his return 
home, being asked by his king if London were a populous city, 
answered it was. ' Was,' rejoined the king, ' why is it not so now P 
' No,' quoth the ambassador, ' I believe they are gone ere this, for 
they were all booted and spurred before I came out of town.' " Here 
follows a humorous description of a fine-bred London lady of his 
times, of the careless nurse, and of the poor infant, half suffocated 
with tight bandages. He then points out the deformities this unna- 
tural custom gave rise to, and contrasts such children with those of 
the Scotch Highlanders and native Irish, who are never swathed or 
rolled. Hence crooked backs and bag wigs. With these, and several 
other similar remarks, he concludes, " It is a great shame that greater 
care is not taken in so weighty an affair as is the birth and breeding 
of that noble creature — Man."*)* 

Dr. B. relates many cases of suppression of urine, caused by its too 
long retention, cured by cold water. " A gentleman, who had attended 
a long trial, found he could not make water, the fibres of the bladder 
being so much and so long extended, they could not contract. He 

* To this the author might with truth have added, that they are invariably 
more or less subject to nervous complaints, and frequently become either idiotic 
or insane. 

f No nation understands so well as the English the birth an&breeding of other 
animals. How much care, labour, and expense is bestowed on improving 
the breed of cattle, yet none is bestowed on improving that of the human 
species ! Money is the root of this as well as of every other eviL 



184 APPENDIX. 

lay all night in extreme pain, and next morning took several diuretic 
medicines, as the spirits of sweet nitre in white wine, and others, but 
to no purpose. Hearing of this by chance, I bid his friend strip him 
naked, and wrap him round the waist and abdomen with a wet toivel, 
which, as soon as done, he made water immediately." He then gives 
a variety of cases of old and inveterate head-aches, rheumatism, gout, 
paralysis, St. Vitus's dance, chorea, and other diseases, cured by cold 
water. " It is," he says, " endless to recite the great cures which have 
been done on people of all ages and sexes, where the cause has been 
discovered to proceed from obstructions of the nerves, by means of 
cold bathing, when performed with care and caution." 

In the Appendix he gives the following case : — " Mr. Thos. Hanbury, 
aged twenty-two, — feverish to an intense degree; violent parching 
heat; unquenchable thirst; quick and high pulse; scanty, high- 
coloured urine ; mouth as it were scorched ; two chaps or fissures the 
whole length of the tongue ; the muscle of the thumb quite consumed, 
so that the palm of the hand was all plain ; no cough, but a confirmed 
hectic ; and was reduced to a skeleton ; the skin seemed to hang upon 
him, was withered, dried, and ill-coloured. In the spring he had 
been seized with an intermitting fever, which changed its type two or 
three times, and terminated in a synochus or confirmed fever. This 
was in the month of July. By means of baths, and living almost en- 
tirely on buttermilk, he completely recovered by the end of August." 

On this case, Dr. B. indulges in the following humorous re- 
marks : — " Had this poor gentleman fallen into some hands, how had 
his soul, long since, been bombed out with boluses ! How many 
hods of dispensary hodge-podge had been carried in ! How many 
repetaturs, and repetanturs ! How many singidis, secunda, tertia, et 
quarta quaque horas, had he been pelted into the grave with ! And, 
lastly, like a horse, perhaps buried without his hide, and encased in 
a sheet of blistering plasters for his shroud" 

He greatly commends buttermilk as an article of diet, and relates 
some cases of hectic fever, gout, and rheumatism cured by its sole use. 
In the north of England, a diet of churned milk, that is, buttermilk, 
and potatoes is considered a specific for the gout. 

Mr. William Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania, with whom he had 
been very well and long acquainted, assured him, that his servant (who 
being present, confirmed the account) cured himself of rheumatism 
in the following way: — He had been long vexed with wandering- 
pains, especially when warm in his bed, and also had some aguish 



APPENDIX. 185 

accessions. When the pain was most severe he got out of bed? 
threw off his shirt, and then plunged into a large tub of cold water ; 
he got out soon, and, though a very cold night, ran naked once or 
twice round the garden, and then plunged suddenly into the water 
again ; so out, and round the garden once or twice more, then taking 
a good swig of brandy, went to his bed. This threw him into a 
most violent sweat, which continued until eight or nine in the 
morning. From that time he was not only freed from his rheumatic 
pains, but also recovered his hearing, which had been previously 
obtuse or hard. 



VANDER HEYDEN. 

A rthr itifug um Magn um. 

A physical discourse on the wonderful virtues of cold water in 
the cure of gout, and a variety of other diseases, together with strains, 
bruises, swellings, and green wounds, by Herman Vander Heyden, an 
eminent physician of Ghent. 

This interesting and valuable little tract was first published in 
1649. 

Vander Heyden appears to have been the first medical man who 
applied the use of cold water to a variety of diseases, and reduced its 
application to a system ; he has also the merit of having discovered the 
efficacy of cold evaporating bandages in the cure of recent wounds, and 
to him modern surgery is indebted for this most valuable invention. 

He commences his treatise by observing, that he may be thought 
a very rough physician, if not a quack, for prescribing such a remedy 
to his patients as cold water : but there is not in nature a greater 
preservative from the gout, nor is anything more efficacious in 
assuaging its torturing pains during the paroxysm, especially if, at 
the same time, some blood is taken away as nearly as possible from 
the seat of the disease. With this view he orders a vein to be opened 
in the great toe, and also in other parts very near to the one affected. 
These topical bleedings are of much greater advantage than taking- 
blood generally from the system, except in cases where the plethora 
or full habit of body may require it. 

Cold water should be drank an hour or two before bed-time, and 
repeated in the morning ; also, whenever the patient is in pain. He 
trusts it will not be thought incredible that very aged persons have 



186 APPENDIX. 

been cured of the sciatica, or hip gout, perfectly, and for ever, in the 
space of four or five days, without any other remedy than cold water 
and letting blood. In case any vein should appear either upon or 
about the hip or shoulder, it would be proper to open it ; but where 
none appears, cupping glasses, with more than ordinary scarifications, 
or, instead of them, leeches, may be applied with great success. The 
leeches or glasses ought to be put upon those parts where the pain is 
most acute. 

In the sciatica the vein in the ancle, or, when the shoulder is 
affected, the vein in the arm, as the vena cephalica or mediana, may 
be opened with advantage. But cupping or scarifications on the 
part are of the greatest service. He has known where, on abstracting 
twelve ounces of blood, or a little more, from the part affected, a most 
severe and intense pain has immediately disappeared. 

He then advises the use of purgatives to be followed by sudorifics, 
or the decoctions of sassafras, or guaiacum. A bladder half full 
of the warm decoction of sage, hyssop, thyme, rosemary, or the 
like herbs, may be applied to the parts. In cases of long standing, 
a large blister has sometimes proved an effectual remedy, and 
sometimes recourse, he says, has been had to the red-hot iron or 
actual cautery. 

" Gold water is also of great service in dyspepsia, taken immediately 
after dinner. A raw apple, which is sharp and sour, taken at supper 
time, with a cup of cold water, instead of other meat or drink, has 
been often known to cure a hoarseness, so that the voice has become 
clear and natural the very next day. Such as have fiery faces and 
carbuncled noses, which usually proceeds from the abuse of wine and 
spirituous liquors, or have cutaneous affections in any other part of 
the body, may, by constantly drinking cold water, in the course of a 
few weeks recover the natural colour of their face and skin. It 
matters not whether the redness proceeds from drinking too freely or 
from any other cause. 

" The immersion of the hands and feet into cold water recovers them, 
when frozen or benumbed with cold, in about half an hour, the water 
being from time to time renewed. This effect will be the more certain, 
if, while the hands or feet are in the water, the patient drinks a good 
draught of warm wine, spiced with nutmeg or cinnamon. The parts 
affected should be afterwards wiped dry with a linen cloth, and well 
soaped; but the patient must not for a time approach a fire." 

Cites Hippocrates, (sect. v. app. 21 and 25,) that the effusion of cold 



APPENDIX, 



187 



water cures the cramp, convulsions, and tetanus, but acknowledges he 
has never made trial of it in these disorders. That a sudden fright has 
driven away a quartan ague, by plunging a patient into cold water. 

" Strains, bruises, and large tumours may be more safely and cer- 
tainly cured by bathing the part in cold water than by any other 
remedies. Hippocrates had good reason for telling us that the gout 
was to be cured by a large effusion of cold water; for it is certain, 
holding the foot a long time in it, abates both the swelling, redness, 
and pain. 

" The immersion of the head in cold water gives relief in the head- 
ache. It should be bathed from the middle of the back part to the 
end of the nose, leaving out the nostrils, during the time it takes to 
repeat the Lord's Prayer. Or, instead of such immersion, which is 
inconvenient for women, a linen cloth dipped in cold water and so 
applied to the head, may do as well. It should be well wrung out, 
and changed from time to time, and applied to the head for half an 
hour, after having first covered the head all over with another dry 
linen cloth doubled. 

" Sir Toby Mathews, an English knight, had been afflicted for twenty 
years with a violent pain on one side of his head, accompanied with 
a constant discharge through his nostrils, so that his pocket hand- 
herchief was always wet. By the immersion of his head in cold 
water he was cured of this disorder in the sixtieth year of his age. 
He has now passed his seventieth year, and has continued free from 
it, enjoying better health than he had done before; but, to prevent 
a relapse, he fortifies himself by dipping his head into cold water 
every day of the year, the depth of winter not excepted. Celsus 
(lib. 1. cap. 4 and 5,) says, that, for such as are suffering from infir- 
mities of the head, or are afflicted with sore eyes, a sense of heaviness, 
running at the nose, or enlarged glands, nothing is so good as cold 
water ; the head should be placed for a little while every day during 
the summer under a full stream of running water." 

For pain or stone in the kidneys, he further advises a linen cloth 
to be dipped in cold water and applied to the part for a considerable 
time, frequently renewing the application. 

Cold water cures all recent ivounds without any suppuration. 
" Having well considered the effects of cold water, I felt persuaded that 
many kinds of fresh wounds, both of the head as well as other parts, 
might be perfectly cured by first intention." Here Yander Heyden 
gives his reasons why he arrived, a priori, at this conclusion. " I can 



188 



APPENDIX. 



assure the reader," says lie, " from the most careful observation, that, 
for fifty-three years past, (for so long it is since I first thought of this 
way of curing wounds upon the leg and other parts, and which I had 
never before either read or heard of,) I have never known such 
injuries (as a broken shin,) become very painful, much less fatal to 
any of my patients, but have invariably obtained all the success that 
could be desired." 

Vander Hey den 8 method of treating a broken shin. " The patient is 
to bathe his leg in cold water for at least half an hour, or, rather, an 
hour; the water, from time to time, to be renewed, so that the injured 
part may be reduced to its natural temperature, or rather colder than 
before. This being done, nothing at all should be laid upon the 
wound, but some of the thin skin or membrane which adheres to the 
inside of an egg-shell. It is then to be covered with a dry linen cloth ; 
others dipped in cold water, and well wrung out, are to be applied 
over this, which are to be changed very frequently, at first every 
quarter of an hour, so as to keep down the inflammation, and free the 
part affected from heat and pain. This application or treatment is 
to be continued in the same manner for four or five days consecutively, 
or until such time as the wound has healed up. At other times, 
while the thin egg-skin was sticking to the wound, and when there 
was very little or no sense at all of heat or pain, I have ordered a 
linen cloth, dipped into cold water and well wrung out, to be wrapped 
about the wound as before mentioned. Should there be any matter 
formed under the skin, it is to be removed ; and, after cleansing the 
wound, put to it the emplastrum diapompholigos* and then cover the 
place with a linen wrapper dipped in cold water, and afterwards well 
wrung ;" or, in other words, apply a wet bandage. Vander Hey den 
gives two cases : the first an old man, where the wound or broken 
shin extended from the knee almost to the ancle j the other a 
nobleman, eighty-four years of age, where, in consequence of digestive 
ointments having been improperly applied, suppuration had taken 
place. He says, " the egg-skin should be very carefully watched, that 
it may keep on for some days or weeks together, according to the 
constitution of the patient, till the wound being closed up it falls off 
itself." He had often observed, when this egg-skin was gently taken 
off, nature has of herself fortified the part with a dry hard scab, which 
fell off, in like manner, when the wound was perfectly healed. 

* This salve or plaster was composed of verdigris and lapis calaminaris. 



APPENDIX. 189 

He further observes, that, " when the periosteum, or skin surround- 
ing the shin bone, is inflamed by a wound or bruise, the use of sup- 
purating remedies increases the heat and pain, promotes the formation 
of purulent matter, or of an abscess, or erysipelas, not unfrequently 
terminating in mortification.* 

" I have endeavoured to persuade many surgeons, some enjoying 
the highest reputation, that in the cure of wounds (where the circum- 
stances attending it will admit of this treatment) they should quit 
the beaten tract in the first application (of remedies which promote 
suppuration), and, by using a remedy which gives immediate relief 
and easy to be applied, aim at the speedy gratification of the patient's 
desire; that as they would preserve a clear conscience, they should 
be more solicitous of their professional reputation than, by a pro- 
tracted cure, of private emolument. Some, trusting to my advice, 
and finding the result crowned with success, have confessed it was to 
be preferred before all other means, though they were very sensible 
they should be considerable losers by bringing so simple a remedy as 
cold water into common practice." 

He concludes this valuable little treatise on cold water with the 
following well-known quotation : 

" Tollere nodosam nescit medicina podogram : 
Sed gelidls multis auxiliatur aquis." — Ovid. 

In vain the knotty gout to physic flies, 
Water alone the certain cure supplies. 



JOHN HANCOCK, D.D. 1700. 

Febrifugum Magnum ; or, Common Water the best Cure for Fevers. 

This popular little work passed through many editions. It 
roused the anger of the profession, and those who were afraid to 
meddle with men like Sir John Flower, or Dr. Baynard, considered 
Dr. Hancock a legitimate object of attack. Various pamphlets were 
written against him. Some in a grave style, abounding with false 
theories on the causes of disease, and on the actions of medicines ; 
others turning it into ridicule, and filled with foolish witticisms, as 
the fiagellum. Dr. H. does not appear to have employed the cold 

* Hence we perceive Vander Heyden's judicious practice was simply to exclude 
the atmospheric air from irritating the wound, to keep down the inflammation by 
means of cool evaporating bandages, and thus to heal it by first intention. 



190 APPENDIX. 

bath, or the affusion of cold water, but confines himself simply to 
cold water as a drink, enjoining rest and abstinence. 

Scarlet Fever. — One of his daughters fell ill of a fever : he sent 
her to bed, made her drink half a pint of water, told her to eat 
nothing, and not to throw off the clothes. In less than half an hour 
the eruption came out ; he found her all over as red as blood. He 
gave her little but toast and water, and water gruel from time to 
time. Three or four of his other children fell ill of the same disease, 
but had it more gently. He treated them all after the same 
manner ; they speedily recovered, most or all of them before the 
one that had it first. 

Smallpox. — The last of his children that had the small-pox fell 
ill, as he thought, of a fever with pretty violent symptoms. He 
treated her in his usual manner, gave her a good dose of water in 
bed ; expecting it would bring out a sweat, which, contrary to his 
expectations, it failed to do. She continued her cool regimen ; and 
on the fourth day, the small-pox appeared. Had from time to time 
water gruel or some thin water pap for nourishment. The pustules 
came out very thick, very distinct, rose high, and looked very well. 
Had no pain in the head, no tendency to delirium, nothing like 
coma, nor more drowsiness than any one might have that lay in bed. 
Had no sore mouth, nor sore throat ; slept as well during the night 
as if she had been well, and lay awake most part of the day. When 
the pustules died away there was no second fever. Nothing was 
done to her face, and when the scabs were off, there appeared no 
disfiguring seals or pits. 

From this case he draws the following very judicious inference, 
applicable to every disease attended with fever. Hence it appears^ 
the principal thing to be attended to, in small-pox and in all other 
eruptive fevers, is to quell the fever at the very first. If this can be 
done, the eruption takes place without any dangerous symptoms 
attending it. " Do," says he, " but bring the blood as near as you 
can to its natural state of circulation, and all will be well." It is 
the violence of the fever that either hinders the eruption from 
coming out at all, when nothing but death is to be expected, or 
makes it come out unkindly, irregularly, untimely, or with dan- 
gerous symptoms. The windows of the room should be opened 
sometimes to let in fresh air, but care should be taken not to allow 
the wind to blow upon the patient. 

Measles. — He had another daughter who fell ill of this disease. 



APPENDIX. 191 

She was attended by their old family apothecary. About 3 o'clock 
in the morning his wife called him out of bed, saying, that his child 
was dying. He found her as if struggling for life. On examining 
her breast, he found the measles had gone in, nothing but livid spots 
remained, and he concluded she was past recovery. He fetched a 
pint of cold water and a small wine-glass ; giving her only a small 
quantity, not knowing what might happen upon giving her a 
larger draught. In the course of a few minutes he gave her a 
second ; after some time a third, and a while after a fourth. Before 
giving her the fourth glass, he again examined her breast, and found 
the measles had come out again, looked very red, and rose as high as 
they ever do. Before the water, she breathed with great difficulty, 
perfectly struggled to get breath, was in a burning dry heat, and in 
a kind of agony. Before she had drank all the water, she breathed 
with great ease and freedom. Soon after the fourth glass she fell 
into a quiet, easy sleep, slept about four hours, waked pretty well, 
and was never in any danger after, but recovered in a short time. 

Gout. — He relates, upon hearsay, the case of a person who had 
been so much afflicted with this disease, that he had a box of chalk- 
stones of his own growth. He was advised to drink nothing but 
water, and for some time to put garlick in it. He accustomed himself 
to this drink. The gout never returned ; and after a while he became 
as well as he had ever been before he was attacked with this disease. 
Plague. — A gentleman, formerly Consul, and a merchant at 
Morocco, related to Dr. H. that he fell ill of this disease. " One of 
his brother factors took care of him, and gave him a dose of rum, 
or some spirituous alexipharmic. Finding himself in a violent heat, 
without any sweat at all, he begged of a Jew, who was left in attend- 
ance, to bring him some cold water. The Jew replied he durst not 
do it ; however, for a fee of two or three ducats, he was persuaded to 
do it. Having drank the water, he composed himself, and soon fell 
into a violent sweat. He felt a pricking pain in his arm-pit, which 
was the beginning of a bubo. He avoided taking the prescribed 
doses all the next day, but at night his friend came to him and 
forced him to take another dose of rum. This took off the sweat ; 
the fever returned, and the bubo disappeared. For another ducat 
he got some more water; his sweat returned. After that, he pre- 
vailed with the Jew to throw all his hot doses away; he recovered, 
and, with due regimen after, was very well. 

" A gentleman, travelling in Arabia, when he came to Mount Sinai, 



192 APPENDIX. 

fell ill, as it proved, of the plague. Finding himself extremely hot, 
and burnt up with thirst, first bathed, and then drank a deal of 
water in bed, not knowing what his distemper was. It brought out 
no less than four or five buboes, and he was well in a little time." 

Where it is necessary to employ diluents, according to the advice 
of Borelli on fever, — adhibito cibo, et potu tenui et aquoso, — a low 
diet with a thin watery drink — water must be the best: "for," 
says Dr. Hancock, " I think no drink can be more thin, small, weak, 
and watery, than water itself." He says he has had more than 
twenty years' experience, that a good dose of cold water will, in most 
fevers, if taken in time, and in bed, open the glands of the skin, and 
produce a plentiful sweat. In this method of sweating there is no 
occasion to add more covers than the patient commonly lies under. 
The fever is so quelled, and the pulse beats so easily, that no one 
would believe the patient was in a fever. 

Half a pint will generally serve to sweat a grown child ; from a 
pint to a quart an adult. In fevers with eruptions, as the scarlet 
fever, small-pox, measles, the water will not make the patient sweat, 
but will so quell and keep under the fever, that the eruptions will 
come out more easily and kindly. 



JOHN king. 1738. 
An Essay on Hot and Cold Bathing. 

In a letter from Sir John Floyer, addressed to this author, we 
meet with the following observations : — " Tender patients may be 
reconciled to the use of cold baths, by bathing in a tub of water, to 
which may be added a pail of boiling water. A general method of 
so much bleeding and purging must be used before the cold bathing, 
as the disease requires. The rickets are commonly cured by dipping 
the children a year old in the bath every morning. Has observed, 
that old women stop violent uterine haemorrhage by cold bathing. 
Cold baths prevent the infection of fevers, by making the body less 
sensible of the changes of air." He recommends those who take 
chalybeate waters not to use cold water after cold bathing ; the 
bathing helps the passing of the waters, but cold water after cold 
bathing chills too much. 

Mr. King gives about fifty cases, most of them nervous and rheu- 
matic, cured by the cold bath. " The following case," he says, " was 
sent by a physician, whose patient the young gentleman was : — He 



APPENDIX. 1 93 

gradually recovered from the most tabid, emaciated condition, to florid 
and vigorous health : — 

" Juvenis quidam annorum 18 pondus elevare nixus, vires pueriles 
longe superans, dolorem illicd sensit ingentem in lumborum regione 
et circumcirca. Non multo postea frequentissimam et omnino invo- 
luntariam seminis jacturam perpessus est ; vires, appetitus et func- 
tiones animales sensim deficiunt ; tandem ad tabem et marasmum 
extremum redactus est, et adeo debilitatus ut cubiculi spatium 
perambulare nequibat. Duobus annis elapsis ad Balneum vestrum 
frigidum profectus cum quotidie, ad mensem sese immerserit (Vomi- 
tione bis vel ter prius repetita, et interim Tinct. Antiphthisica et 
aliis astringentibus probe exhibitis) domum rediit floridus, robustus 
et absolute sanus." 

In a letter from Dr. Browne to Sir John Floyer, the Doctor 
remarks that the use of cold baths has been neglected, especially 
since the reformation, and the invocation of saints has been disused. 
That the generality of the cold springs in England were dedicated 
to some saint or other, and the reputation of the well declined with 
that of the saint ; but still the superstition of washing in these holy 
waters remains in several parts of England to this day. (15 Dec. 
1706.) Nothing is more common in the North than to reserve 
bathing till the saint's day which the spring takes its name from, 
when they generally observe the custom of leaving something behind 
them, if it be but the value of a pin, by which means they suppose 
they leave the disease behind them too. 

" The causes of all our rheumatisms," he says, " are chiefly owing 
to the late practice of drinking hot liquors, and the pernicious use of 
flannel and woollen shirts next to the skin." 

In a letter from Sir Theodore Colladon, Knt., to Dr. Baynard, it 
is reported that " Dr. Cyprianus (a very celebrated lithotomist of that 
time) had, for the last two or three years, become so infirm, and apt 
to fevers, that, winter and summer, he was forced to wrap himself up 
in flannel, and leatherdoom, and upon the least cold or windy weather 
fell into violent fevers and defluxions. He tried every remedy, and 
consulted the most eminent physicians, without success. Two years 
together he went to Bath, and drank the waters regularly, bathed in 
all the three baths, but still found no benefit, but was rather worse. 
With much difficulty he was persuaded to try what the cold bath 
would do in his case; and in tivice or thrice going in, even in the 
midst of winter, was so relieved, that he has been already in it above a 

o 



194 APPENDIX. 

hundred times, and now is so well and so hardy, that nothing can hurt 
him : he has left off all his flannels, and, in fine, is perfectly recovered. 
" Major Sutton, Lord Lexington's cousin, had been seized with so 
violent a rheumatism, that he not only lost the use of his limbs, but 
was in such great pain, that, finding no relief by all the remedies he 
used, he was carried and thrown into the cold bath, desiring, as he 
told me, to be drowned in it if he had no relief ; but in three times 
going in, he could walk, and came out without help." 



Dr. Weight, whose success in his own case determined Dr. Currie to 
have recourse to the same practice, as fully narrated, observes — 
" In all cases where there are visceral obstructions, cold bathing does 
much mischief ; and in fevers of this sort, with inflammatory diathe- 
sis, there is reason to suspect topical inflammation of the viscera ; in 
this last case, if cold bathing were made use of, the patient would 
run the risk of his life, and the physician justly lose his character. In 
such cases, after clearing the stomach and primse vise, he ordered 
mild antimonials, opiates, and calomel ; by these means the disorder 
is soon removed, (alluding to quartans, double tertians, and simple 
intermittents,) as has been experienced in a great number of cases 
attended with the most unfavourable appearances." 



DR. RUSH. 

An Account of the Bilious Remitting Yellow Fever of Philadelphia. 

He says, cold water was a most powerful and agreeable remedy 
in this disorder. He directed it to be applied by means of napkins 
to the head, and to be injected into the bowels by way of glyster. 
It gave the same ease to both, when in pain, which opium gives to 
pain from other causes. He likewise advised the washing of the face 
and hands, and sometimes the feet, with cold water, and always with 
advantage. " It was by suffering the body to lie some time in a bed of 
cold water, that the inhabitants of the island of Massuah* cured the 
most violent bilious fevers. When applied in this way, it gradually 
abstracts the heat from the body, and thereby lessens the action of the 
system. It differs as much in its effects upon the body from the cold 
bath, as rest in a cold room differs from exercise in the cold and open air. 

" Cold water, when applied to the feet, as certainly reduces the pulse 

* Bruce's Travels. 



APPENDIX. J 95 

» 

in force and frequency, as warm water, applied in the same way, 
produces contrary effects upon it." 

Dr. Rush was opposed to the use of the cold bath, and says, it 
was only useful in those cases where its sedative prevailed over its 
stimulating effects. In two cases, in which he prescribed it, it pro- 
duced a gentle sweat, but it did not save life. In a third, it removed 
a delirium, and reduced the pulse for a few minutes, in frequency 
and force, but this patient died. He afterwards observes, " it is to 
be lamented that the remedy of cold water has suffered in its cha- 
racter by the manner in which it was advised." Yet, he remarks, 
that the yellow fever of the previous autumn was often cured on the 
first or second day by a copious sweat. It is clear that Dr. Rush 
did not know the mode of employing the cold bath according to 
the judicious rules laid down by Dr. Currie. 

He states that " the third, fifth, and seventh days were mostly 
critical ; and the disease generally terminated on one of them in life 
or death. An eruption on the third or seventh day over the body 
proved salutary. An excessive heat, and burning about the region 
of the liver, with cold extremities, portended death to be at hand. 

" In some cases there was a preternatural secretion and excretion 
of mucous from the glands of the throat. It was discharged by an 
almost constant hawking and spitting. All who had this symptom 
recovered." In another place he says, he had observed a favourable 
issue of the fever in every case in which a spontaneous discharge 
took place from the salivary glands. 

" This epidemic was at last arrested by cold rainy weather. The 
clouds at last dropped health in showers of rain, which continued 
during the whole day (15th October), and which were succeeded for 
several nights afterwards by cold and frost. The appearance of this 
rain was like a dove with an olive branch in its mouth. 

" The refugees from the French West Indies universally escaped 
this epidemic. But such was not the case with the natives of France, 
who had been settled in the city. At Nimeguen, in 1736, Deignier 
informs us that the French people, (two old men excepted,) and the 
Jews, escaped a dysentery which was universal amongst all other 
nations. Rarnazzini tells us that the Jews at Modena escaped a ter- 
tian fever which affected nearly all the other inhabitants of the town. 
Shenkius says that the Dutch and the Italians escaped a plague, 
which prevailed for two years in one of the towns of Switzerland ; and 
Dr. Bell remarks that the gaol fever which attacked the soldiers of 



196 



APPENDIX. 



the Duke of Buccleugh's regiment, spared the French prisoners, who 
were guarded by them. It is difficult to account for these facts. 
However numerous their causes may be, a difference in diet, which 
is as much a distinguishing mark of nations as dress or manners, will 
probably be found to be one of them." 



Dr. Chisholm, in his account of the Boullam fever, speaking on this 
exemption from disease, very judiciously remarks, that " during the 
prevalence of a pestilential fever, the great prophylactics are temperance 
in eating and drinking ; regularity in exercise ; the proper distribu- 
tion of time with respect to sleep and watching ; attention to clean- 
liness of person ; and the avoiding such gratifications as have a 
tendency to weaken the vital powers. The words of Celsus, in his 
Observatio in Pestilentia, or fevers arising from marsh effluvia, are 
very comprehensive : " Vitare fatigationem, cruditatem, frigus, ca- 
lorem, libidinem ; multoque magis se contenere." Whilst the pesti- 
lential fever raged here, the utility of these means was remarkably 
illustrated by the almost total exemption of the French inhabitants 
from the disease. Their mode of living, compared to that of the 
English, is temperate and regular in an uncommon degree ; animal 
food and strong liquors are very moderately used by them; vege- 
tables and small red wine chiefly compose their diet ; their passions 
are seldom excited to any degree bordering on excess ; their minds 
seem in general tranquil, or actuated by a vivacity peculiar to them- 
selves ; and depression, or that state of the animal spirits they call 
ennui, is never perceived to have place among them." 



ROBERT KINGLAKE, M.D. 

Dissertation on the Gout. 1804. 

He was in the habit of prescribing the "Aqua ammoniae acetata," 
conjoined with common water, " not," he says, " with a view to any dis- 
cutient quality, but merely to avoid exciting any dread, in the apothe- 
cary who furnished it, against the use of cold water alone, which 
would probably have proved an impediment to its due application." 

When the inflammation was accompanied with a sensation of 
burning, he ordered the patient's limbs to be enveloped with cloths 
dripping with cold water, which were renewed about every half hour. 
In a case of acute rheumatism, as well as in others, he states, the 
moisture was detached by evaporation from the cloths, as rapidly as 



APPENDIX. 197 

if held before a fierce fire. The pain, as always happens, was speedily 
assuaged, but soon recurred, if not prevented by a timely renewal 
of cold. The irritation (the seat of the disease 1) alternately changed 
its position for several weeks, during all which time the patient 
might be said to be soaked in cold water. 

His practice, which excited much opposition, seems to have been 
confined to the topical application of wet linen, combined with 
medicine. 



Dr. Fitzpatrick, (of Dublin,) in the ninth volume of Med. Com., 
p. 227, gives an account of the extraordinary effects arising from the 
application of cold water after delivery. In this interesting case, 
the patient, who had kept her bed for two months previously, afflicted 
with a constant uterine discharge, was greatly reduced and debili- 
tated. He placed her in a cold bath immediately after delivery, 
with the most beneficial result. 



Two Cases of Constipated Belly, cured by the external application of 
Cold Water ; in a Letter from James Spence, M.D., of Guildford, 
to Henry R. Reynolds, M.B. Read at the College of Physicians, 
12th Aug. 1784. Med. Trans, vol. iii. p. 96. 
" Case I. — A man, aged fifty-four, servant to Lord Grantley, had 
ridden much, lived freely, and had been particularly addicted to the 
drinking of spirituous liquors. On the 20th of March, 1784, he 
began to feel a tension and fulness of the stomach and belly, after a 
costiveness of more than a week's standing : from that day to the 
24th, he took four ounces of sacred tincture by spoonfuls ; swallowed 
a great number of cathartic pills ; had frequent draughts, with rhu- 
barb, jalap, and salpolychrest, besides purging clysters often repeated, 
without procuring any evacuation. 

" On the 25th and 26th he had four ounces of castor oil given him, 
by spoonfuls at a time ; the fumes of tobacco were also thrown up 
plentifully, and renewed every four hours. 

" At first this occasioned some stir in his bowels, which he had not 
before felt ; and, by the escape of some wind, he imagined his cure 
almost effected. Next day, however, (the 27th,) his uneasiness in- 
creased, and the tension was as great as ever ; and there seemed no 
symptoms of his body becoming soluble. From this day to the 3d 
of April, a variety of purgative mixtures and draughts, besides many 
pills, and calomel to the quantity often grains, was given him. He 



198 



APPENDIX. 



was put into the warm bath; and purgative clysters, and tobacco 
fumes, were occasionally injected. A person in the family having 
expressed a desire that the effects of James's powder might be tried, 
a paper of it was administered at twice, without any sensible effect. 

" Hitherto he had supported himself with wonderful spirit and reso- 
lution ; his health, as he himself said, was as good as ever ; his pulse 
little altered ; his tongue kept moist ; he made water freely ; and 
walked about the room ; drank plentifully of tamarind tea, or infu- 
sion of cremor tartari, and ate of gruel, which was his favourite food. 
From the above period to the 15th, the tension, and uneasiness from 
it, was gradually becoming more and more intolerable ; his pulse 
quickened; his countenance changed; and a nausea and indifference 
to all foods and drinks took place. There was a visible aggravation 
of all his former symptoms ; and he became almost unable to move 
from off his bed. He at times seemed comatose ; had almost an 
incessant hiccough, and such stercoraceous vomitings for more than 
a week, that scarcely any person could stand near him, the smell was 
so strongly excrementitious. On the first appearance of these symp- 
toms, four ounces of quicksilver were ordered for a dose, morning 
and evening, until he swallowed a pound weight of it ; and a large 
blister was applied to the abdomen. His former medicines were also 
occasionally administered ; and a laxative stomach pill, with essence 
and extract of chamomile, given him. 

" As a last resource, I now wished to attempt exciting the action 
of the intestines, by throwing cold water from the lower extremities 
upwards ; and, by way of encouragement to this experiment, I men- 
tioned the cases related by Dr. Stevenson, in the Edinburgh Medical 
Essays. 

" My patient's anxiety to have this tried overruled all objections 
started by others ; accordingly, on the evening of the 17th he was 
helped into the wash-house, and led along on the cold wet brick floor, 
while cold water was dashed on his naked limbs, as high as the os 
pubis, for above a quarter of an hour. He bore it better than his 
assistants could have imagined, and returned to his chamber in better 
spirits than when he left it. 

" When I visited him next day, he expressed a wish that the water 
had been thrown higher up on his body ; and said he felt rather 
stronger and lighter than before the water had been applied. It was 
accordingly settled, that the application of it should be repeated early 
next morning, and in a more forcible manner. Monday, the 19 th, 
between seven and eight o'clock, he was taken into the brewhouse, 



APPENDIX. 199 

stripped as high almost as his shoulders, and' water dashed in a large 
quantity, from his legs upwards, on the abdomen, and on his back, 
as high as could be done without wetting his shirt, which was thrown 
across his shoulders. He expressed that it affected him like electricity, 
and penetrated through his very vitals. 

" After having lain in bed a few hours, a tendency to stool was 
perceived, and a plentiful evacuation soon succeeded. This was fol- 
lowed by several more, betwixt this time and the next morning ; 
his hiccough, which was still frequent, became more moderate ; the 
tension of his belly disappeared ; his countenance and spirits bright- 
ened up ; he called for food and drink, and in a few days was able 
to walk about the yard and house. For five or six days after a dis- 
charge had been procured, he had frequent calls to stool, which were 
sometimes knotty, but mostly very thin and liquid ; and the bowels 
could scarcely retain or digest the aliment he took ; it passed so 
suddenly and quickly through him for almost a fortnight. 

" It was likewise about the fourth or fifth clay after his relief, before 
any quantity of the quicksilver was voided. Yet there was recovered 
about twelve ounces of it; and now, though still thinner than before 
his illness, he seems hearty, and says he never was better in his life. 

" Case II. — The town-sergeant of Guildford, aged sixty-one, tall, 
healthy, temperate, industrious and active. Had been previously 
subject to constipation, with symptoms of colic and obstruction in 
his bowels. Was taken ill on the 18th of April, with violent pain 
and distension of the abdomen, which sounded, when smartly touched 
with the hand, like a blown-up carcase. 

" Purgative medicines and tobacco fumes were tried in vain. On 
the evening of the 15th of May, he was assisted down stairs into the 
brewhouse, and basons full of cold water were dashed on his limbs, 
as high as the os pubis. Before his return to bed, he expressed the 
same wish as the former patient, that they had thrown the water upon 
his stomach and belly. On the 6th and 7th he had no symptoms of 
a tendency to have stools. The distension and flatulency were still 
very great, with a rumbling noise that could be heard at some distance. 

" On the 8th, no benefit having been received, and being too weak 
to be taken down stairs, I directed in the evening, toivels soaked in 
cold water to he thrown from some distance on his swollen belli/, and 
the region of the stomach. He also said, that this affected him like a 
stroke of electricity. At his own request a large glass of cold water 
was given him to drink. About ten o'clock he had a sudden call to 



200 APPENDIX. 

the close stool, and a very violent explosion of wind, which before 
midnight was followed by three very copious foetid stools. 

" On the 9th he still complained of fulness, and large knobs arising, 
which distended his bowels; with severe gripings and rumbling noise. 
On the 10th the cold wet cloths were renewed, being dashed on the 
epigastric region and abdomen as before, and with similar success." 

From the remainder of this case, it does not appear that the appli- 
cation of cold water was repeated. Quicksilver had also been given. 
He gradually recovered, and on the 9th of June the feverish and 
other symptoms had disappeared. 



JOHN SMITH, C. M. 

The Curiosities of Common Water. 

The author of this treatise has collected the opinions of the most 
eminent physicians on the efficacy of cold water in curing and pre- 
venting diseases, to which he adds the testimony of his own, during 
a period of forty-four years, from the age of thirty to seventy-four, and 
that it may, in some sense, be truly styled an universal remedy, 
since, in the diseases it either prevents or cures, it is applicable to 
all persons and in all places. 

Many of the authorities he quotes merely confirm what has been 
already stated in the copious extracts from the treatise of Sir John 
Floyer on cold bathing, and therefore need not be repeated. He 
notices a fact well known in physiology, that in cases of starvation 
from want of food, life is greatly prolonged simply by drinking- 
water. " A man attempting to starve himself to death, went without 
food for twenty days, but drank each day about three pints or two 
quarts of water, and at the expiration of that time, upon taking a 
little food, he rapidly recovered his strength. A madman at Leyden, 
in imitation of the Saviour, fasted forty days without taking any 
food, only he drank water and smoked tobacco. A poor old woman, 
in a state of great want, was frequently obliged to pass two or three 
days without taking any food • she found that drinking water 
assuaged the cravings of hunger." 

He recommends a piece of linen, doubled five or six times, to be 
dipped in water, and applied to bruises and tumours, the same to 
be reapplied as often as it begins to grow warm. In sickness or 
nausea, the well-known remedy of drinking three or four quarts of 
warm water, and to excite vomiting by irritating the oesophagus. 
That this is a certain cure in all surfeits, and infallible in cases of 



APPENDIX. 201 

sickness. In cases of indigestion or repletion a pint of cold water, 
taken from time to time will digest and carry off whatever is offen- 
sive to the stomach. That vomiting with warm water, and drinking 
nothing but cold water afterwards, is excellent for shortness of breath. 
In cases of violent vomiting, it prevents straining and the danger of 
bursting a blood-vessel. In sickness and diarrhoea, Sigismundus 
Gresius used to order pure water to be drank in large quantities. 
Sydenham cured a case of cholera by four gallons of water in which 
a chicken had been boiled, partly to be drank and partly to be 
administered as an enema. Cites a case of acute dysentery cured by 
Lusitanus with cold water ; also, other diseases cured by the same 
means. Dr. Betts, being consulted in a case of small-pox, where the 
eruption did not come out kindly, ordered two quarts of cold water 
to be drank as soon as could be ; upon which they came out accord- 
ing to expectation, and the party did well. He then gives the 
concurrent testimony of ancient and modern physicians, including 
Galen, that cold water is a safe and effectual remedy in burning- 
fevers, providing it be drank in great abundance. Dr. Quinton men- 
tions a case of typhus fever, where three quarts of water had been 
given, at several draughts, to induce vomiting ; it did not operate 
that way, but greatly refreshed the patient, raised the pidse, brought 
on a gentle perspiration, and passed off by urine. He states, that 
in lowness of the pulse he has often found it to be raised by drinking 
water plentifully. He ordered a pint of cold water to be given to a 
woman in a state of delirium : in three or four minutes she came to 
her right senses, and, desiring to drink more, recovered from the fever. 
" Chalybeate waters strengthen the stomach, not so much from the 
iron held in solution, as from the large quantity of cold water which 
is drank ; and that physicians, in sending their patients to watering 
places, tacitly acknowledge that they are baffled, and that all their 
prescriptions may be excelled by water. 

'The steel is a cheat, 
'Tis water does the feat.' " 

He gives the case of " a man with a large ulcer in his foot, which 
was cured by wading in a river, where he staid above two hours 
fishing. Bathing the part in cold water is excellent for strains. It is 
a common practice to wind haybands around the legs and joints of 
horses, and from time to time throw over them a pailful of cold water." 

Want of sleep in fevers may be cured by cold water. — " To a near 
relation in a fever, who could not sleep for three days and three 
nights, I ordered a towel to be several times folded up, then to be 



202 APPENDIX. 

dipped in water, and a little wrung out, and so laid upon her fore- 
head, and to be new dipped as it grew hot ; which, in about two 
hours, so cooled her head, that she fell into a sleep, and continued in 
it five hours, and I ordered the same to be done the next night with 
the same success. Dr. Cockburn, in his treatise on sea diseases, for 
the want of sleep in fevers, orders a towel, four times doubled, to be 
dipped in oxycrate, which is six parts water and one of vinegar, to be 
bound over the head and temples, which, he says, will cause sleep 
with wonderful success. But cold water only will have the same 
effect, as I often have proved." 

He quotes the celebrated Pitcairne, who says, " there is no such 
thing as the art of curing, but only the practice. Remedies were 
found out by chance. If physic were an art, it would not be neces- 
sary to try experiments, because the rules of art are certain. Celsus 
says the remedy was not found out after the reason, but the reason 
was looked for after the remedy had been found effectual.* 

" If a drunken man be plunged over head and ears in cold water, 
he will come out of it perfectly sober • from whence Dr. Browne 
concludes, that which will make a drunken man sober in a minute, 
will certainly go a great way towards the cure of a madman in a 
month. Thus, Dr. Baynard relates the case of a man raving mad, 
who, being bound in a cart, stripped of his clothes, and blind-folded, 
that the surprise might be the greater, on a sudden, had a great fall 
of water let down upon him from the height of twenty feet, under 
which he continued so long as his strength woidd permit. After his 
return home he fell into a sleep, and slept twenty-nine hours ; then 
awoke in a quiet state of mind, and has continued so ever since." 

He then relates cases of fever, of cutaneous and other diseases, cured 
by cold water. He observes, that " sweating in fevers, by drinking 
cold water, is more natural than by hot sudorifics j" and strongly 
recommends vomiting with warm water in the first instance, as he 
considers the stomach the principal seat of all diseases. 

" Cold water is an absolute cure for all small cuts in the fingers or 
other parts ; for if you close the cut up with the thumb of your 
other hand, keeping it so closed for a quarter or half an hour, it will 
infallibly stop the bleeding ; after which, if you double up a linen 
rag five or six times, dip it in cold water, and apply it to the part, 
binding it on, this, by preventing the inflammation, and a flux of 
humours, will give nature time soon to heal it without any other 
application." 

* Physic may be defined a speculative science, founded on experiment. 



APPENDIX. 



DR. CURRIE. 



203 



Medical Reports on the Effects of Water as a Remedy in Fever and 
other Diseases. 

Contagious Fever. — Dr. Wright's description of his own case : — 
" Sept. 5th, 6th, and 7th. — Small rigors now and then ; a preternatural 
heat of the skin ; a dull pain in the forehead ; the pulse small and 
quick ; a loss of appetite, but no sickness at stomach ; the tongue 
white and slimy ; little or no thirst ; the belly regular ; the urine pale 
and rather scanty ; in the night restless, with starting and delirium. 

" Sept. 8th. Every symptom aggravated, with pains in the loins 
and lower limbs, and stiffness in the thighs and hams. 

" Took a gentle vomit on the second day of the illness, and next 
morning a decoction of tamarinds; at bed-time an opiate, joined 
with antimonial wine, but this did not procure sleep nor open the 
pores of the skin. No inflammatory symptoms being present, a 
drachm of Peruvian bark was taken every hour for six hours suc- 
cessively, and now and then a glass of port wine, but with no apparent 
benefit. When upon deck my pains were greatly mitigated, and the 
colder the air the better. This circumstance, and the failure of every 
means I had tried, encouraged me to put in practice on myself what 
I had often wished to try on others in fevers similar to my own. 

" Sept. 9th. Having given the necessary directions, about three 
o'clock in the afternoon I stripped off all my clothes, and threw a sea 
cloak loosely about me till I got upon the deck, w r hen the cloak was 
also laid aside ; three buckets of salt water were then thrown at once 
on me ; the shock was great, but I felt immediate relief. The head- 
ache and other pains instantly abated, and a fine glow and diaphoresis 
succeeded. Towards evening, however, the febrile symptoms threatened 
a return, and I had again recourse to the same method as before, with 
the same good effect. I now took food with an appetite, and for the 
first time had a sound night's rest. 

" Sept. 10th. No fever, but a little uneasiness in the hams and 
thighs ; used the cold bath twice. 

" Sept. 11th. Every symptom vanished, but to prevent a relapse I 
used the cold bath twice. 

" Mr. Kirk, a young gentleman, passenger in the ship, fell ill of the 
same fever, and was cured by the same means." 



204 



APPENDIX. 



History of the Fever ivhich occurred in the ?>§th Regiment. 

" The general guard-room had been used previous to the arrival of 
the 30th, as a place of confinement for deserters; it was extremely 
close and dirty, and under it was a cellar, which in the winter had 
been full of water. This water was now half evaporated, and from 
the surface issued offensive exhalations. 

" In a dark, narrow, and unventilated cell, off the guard-room, it was 
usual to confine such men as were sent to the guard for misbehaviour, 
and about the beginning of June (1792) several men had been shut 
up in this place on account of drunkenness, and suffered to remain 
there twenty-four hours, under the debility that succeeds in- 
toxication. The typhus, or gaol fever, made its appearance in two of 
these men about the first of the month, and spread with great rapidity. 
Ten of the soldiers labouring under this epidemic, were received into 
the Liverpool Infirmary, and the wards allotted to the fever could 
admit no more. The contagion continued its progress, a temporary 
hospital was fitted up at the fort, and I was requested to give my 
assistance there to the surgeon cf the regiment, by Captains Brereton 
and Torriano. 

" In two low rooms, about fifteen feet square, were fourteen patients 
labouring under fever. They were in different stages of its progress : 
one was in the fourteenth day of the disease, two were in the twelfth, 
and the rest from the ninth to the fourth inclusive. The symptoms 
of the fever were very uniform. In every case there was more or less 
cough, with mucous expectoration : in all those who had sustained 
the disease eight days and upwards, there were petechia on the skin ; 
in several there were occasional bleedings from the nostrils, and 
streaks of blood in the expectoration. The debility was considerable 
from the first, and it had been increased in several cases by the use of 
venesection, before the nature of the epidemic was understood. The 
pulse varied from 130 strokes in the minute to 100; the heat rose in 
one case to 105° Farh., but was in general from 101° to 103°; and 
towards the latter stages of the disease it was scarcely above the 
temperature of health. Great pain in the head, with stupor, per- 
vaded the whole, and in several instances there occurred a considerable 
degree of low delirium. 

" Our first care was to ventilate and clean the rooms, which were in 
a high degree foul and pestilential. Our second was to wash and 



APPENDIX. 205 

clean the patients themselves. This was done by pouring sea-water 
over the naked bodies of those whose strength was not greatly 
reduced, and whose heat was steadily above the temperature of health. 
In those advanced in the fever, whose debility was of course great, 
we did not venture on this treatment, but contented ourselves with 
sponging the whole surface of the body with tepid vinegar, a practice 
that, in every stage of fever, is salutary and refreshing. 

" Our next care was to stop the progress of the infection. With this 
view the guard-house was at first attempted to be purified by washing 
and ventilation, the greatest part of its furniture having been burnt 
or thrown into the sea. All our precautions and exertions of this kind 
were, however, found to be ineffectual. The weather was at this time 
wet and extremely cold for the season ; the men on guard could not 
be prevailed on to remain in the open air ; and from passing the night 
in the infected guard-room several of the privates of the successive 
reliefs, on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of the month, caught the infection. 
In several of these the fever ran through its course ; and in others it 
was immediately arrested by the affusion of sea water as already 
described. No means having been found effectual for the purification 
of the guard-room, it was shut up, and a temporary shed erected in 
its stead. Still the contagion proceeded; on the morning of the 
13th three more having been added to the list of the infected. On 
that day, therefore, the whole regiment was drawn up at my request, 
and the men examined in their ranks : seventeen were found with 
symptoms of fever upon them. It was not difficult to distinguish 
them as they stood by their fellows. Their countenances were 
lauguid, their whole appearance dejected, and the adnata of their 
eyes had a dull red suffusion. These men were carefully separated 
from the rest of the corps, and immediately subjected to the cold 
affusion, always repeated once, and sometimes twice a day. In fifteen 
of the number the contagion was extinguished ; but two went through 
the regular disease. On the same day the commanding officer, at 
my desire, issued an order for the whole of the remaining part of the 
regiment to bathe in the sea; and for some time they were regularly 
mustered, and marched down at high water, to plunge into the tide. 

" These means were successful in arresting the epidemic: after the 
\2>th of June no person ivas attacked by it. It extended to fifty-eight 
persons in all, of which thirty-two went through the regular course 
of the fever, and in twenty-six the disease seemed to be cut short by the 
cold affusion. Of thirty-two, already mentioned, two died. Both of 



206 APPENDIX. 

these were men whose constitutions were weakened by the climate of 
the West Indies ; both of them had been bled in the early stages of the 
fever: and, the one of them being in the twelfth, the other in the four- 
teenth day of the disease, when I first visited them, neither of them was 
subjected to the cold affusion. The water employed on this occasion 
was taken up from the river Mersey, close by the fort. It was at that 
time of the temperature from 58° to 60°of Fahrenheit, and it contains 
in solution from a thirty-second to a thirty-third part of sea salt." 

" The safest and most advantageous time for using the aspersion or 
affusion of cold water, is when the exacerbation is at its height, or 
immediately after its declination was begun ; and this has led me 
almost always to direct it to be employed from six to nine o'clock in 
the evening ; but it may be safely used any time of the day, when 
there is no sense of chilliness present, when the heat of the surface is 
steadily above what is natural, and when there is no general or profuse 
perspiration. These particulars are of the utmost importance. 

" If the aspersion of cold water on the surface of the body be used 
during the cold stage of the paroxysm of the fever, the respiration is 
nearly suspended ; the pulse becomes fluttering, feeble, and of an 
incalculable frequency ; the surface and extremities become doubly 
cold and shrivelled, and the patient seems to struggle with the pangs 
of instant dissolution. I have no doubt, from what I have observed, 
that in such circumstances, the repeated affusion of a few buckets of 
cold water would extinguish life. This remedy should therefore 
never be used when any considerable sense of chilliness is present, 
even though the thermometer applied to the trunk of the body should 
indicate a degree of heat greater than usual. 

u Neither ought it to be used when the heat measured by the ther- 
mometer is less than, or even only equal to, the natural heat, though 
the patient should feel no degree of chilliness. This is sometimes the 
case towards the last stages of fever, when the powers of life are too 
weak to sustain so powerful a stimulus. 

" It is also necessary to abstain from the use of this remedy when 
the body is under profuse perspiration, and this caution is more 
important in proportion to the continuance of this perspiration. In 
the commencement of the perspiration, especially if it has been 
brought on by violent exercise, the affusion of cold water on the 
naked body, or even immersion in the cold bath, may be hazarded 
with little risk, and sometimes may be resorted to with great benefit. 
After the perspiration has continued some time and flowed freely, 



APPENDIX. 207 

especially if the body has remained at rest, either the affusion or 
immersion is attended with danger, even though the heat of the body 
at the moment of using them be greater than natural. Perspiration 
is always a cooling process in itself, but in bed it is often prolonged 
by artificial means, and the body is prevented from cooling under it 
to the natural degree, by the load of heated clothes. When the heat 
has been thus artificially kept up, a practitioner, judging by the 
information of his thermometer only, may be led into error. In this 
situation, however, I have observed that the heat sinks rapidly on the 
exposure of the surface of the body even to the external air, and that 
the application of cold water, either by affusion or immersion, is 
accompanied by a loss of heat, and a deficiency of reaction, which are 
altogether inconsistent with safety. 

" Under these restrictions, the cold affusion may be used at any 
period of fever ; but its effects will be more salutary in proportion as 
it is used more early. When employed in the advanced stages of fever, 
where the heat is reduced, and the debility great, some cordial should 
be given immediately after it, and the best is warm wine." 

" A nurse in the fever ward of the infirmary caught the infection. 
She was seized with violent rigors, chilliness, and wandering pains, 
succeeded by great heat, thirst, and headache. Sixteen hours after 
the first attack, her heat at the axilla was 103° of Fahr., pulse 112 
in the minute and strong • her thirst great, her tongue furred, and 
her skin dry. Five gallons of salt water of 44° were poured over 
her naked body, at five o'clock in the afternoon, and after being 
hastily dried with towels, she was replaced in bed ; when her agita- 
tion and sobbing had subsided, her pulse was found to beat at the 
rate of 96 strokes in the minute, and in half an hour afterwards it 
had fallen to 80. The heat was reduced to 98° by the ablution, and 
half an hour afterwards it remained stationary. The sense of heat 
and headache were gone, and the thirst nearly gone. Six hours 
afterwards she was perfectly free from fever, but a good deal of 
debility remained. Small doses of Colombo were ordered for her, 
with a light nourishing diet, and for several days the cold affusion 
was repeated, at the same hour of the day as at first ; the fever 
never returned. 

" During the progress of the fever, when epidemic, a great number 
of cases similar to the above have occurred, in which the disease was 
suddenly cut short by the use of the cold affusion on the first and 
second day ; twenty-six of these cases were in the 30th Regiment. 



208 APPENDIX. 

In all these the result was precisely similar to the one related. — In 
cases in which the affusion was not employed till the third day of 
the fever, I have seen several instances of the same complete solution 
of the disease. I have even seen this take place wjien the remedy 
has been deferred till the fourth day ; but this is not common." 

Here some cases are detailed, from which the following conclu- 
sion is drawn : — " It appears, that the cold affusion, used on the 
third and fourth days of the fever, does not produce an immediate 
solution of the disease ; but that it instantly abates it, and by a few 
repetitions brings it to a happy termination in two or three days." 

" I have frequently used the cold affusion in the last stage of the 
paroxysm of intermittents, and almost always with the immediate 
solution of the fit ; but in general, if no remedy be used in the 
intermission, the fever returns at the usual period. In some 
instances, however, the succeeding paroxysm has been prevented by 
using the cold affusion about an hour previous to the period of its 
expected return, and the disease been ultimately removed by con- 
tinuing this practice through four or five of the following periods." 

" It ought never to be forgotten, that an application of cold, which 
is safe in the violence of fever, is not safe when the fever is removed. 
Injury has sometimes occurred from continuing the cold affusion in 
the period of convalescence. Neither is the cold affusion safe after 
the sweating stage of fever has continued some time, and the body is 
passing through that cooling process." In addition to this, " an 
express exception is made against its use during the feverish chill. 
An exception is also made against its being employed in the latter 
end of fever, when the strength is much exhausted, and the heat is 
sometimes as low or lower than the temperature of health. While, 
however, the heat rises one or two degrees above the healthy 
standard, this remedy may be used even in the latter stages of fever. 
I have employed it with advantage on the eleventh, twelfth, and 
thirteenth days. — In the first stages of typhus, the low contagious 
fever of this country, it appears very generally to cut short the 
disease almost instantaneously ; and even when it fails of this effect, 
as is usually the case when applied in the more advanced stages, it 
nevertheless moderates the violence of the symptoms, and shortens 
the duration of the fever." 

" Of the use of the Affusion of Cold and Tepid Water in Small-pox. 
— In situations where the eruptive fever of small-pox is clearly dis- 
tinguishable, and where it does not abate sufficiently on the admis- 



APPENDIX. 209 

sion of cold air, the affusion of cold water may be resorted to with 
confidence and safety, regulated, however, in this application, as in 
every other, by the actual state of the patient's heat, and of his sensa- 
tion of heat. 

"In the autumn of 1794, J. J., aged twenty-four, was inoculated 
under my care. He sickened on the seventh day, and the eruptive 
fever was very considerable. He had a rapid and feeble pulse, a 
foetid breath, with pain in the head, back, and loins. His heat 
rose in a few hours to 107°, and his pulse beat 119 times in the 
minute. I encouraged him to drink largely of cold water and 
lemonade, and threw three gallons of cold brine over him. He was 
in a high degree refreshed by it. The eruptive fever abated in every 
respect — an incipient delirium subsided, the pulse became slower, 
the heat was reduced, and tranquil sleep followed. In the course 
of twenty-four hours the affusion was repeated three or four different 
times at his own desire ; a general direction having been given him 
to call for it as often as the symptoms of fever returned. The erup- 
tion, though more numerous than is usual from inoculation, was of a 
favourable kind. There was little or no secondary fever, and he 
recovered rapidly." 

From a case of confluent small-pox, which terminated fatally, Dr. 
Currie concludes, that after the eruption, in this form of the disease, is 
completely formed, the cold affusion cannot perhaps be used with 
advantage. 

Sir William Watson mentions the case of a young woman, who, 
in the absence of her nurse, got out of bed delirious, during the 
eruptive fever of small-pox, and threw herself into the New River, 
near Islington. She was discovered floating on her face ; and when 
taken out of the water, had not the least appearance of life. She 
was recovered, however, by the usual methods, and afterwards passed 
well through the disease. 

The following cases of scarlatina anginosa, which were communi- 
cated by Dr. Currie's colleague, Dr. Gerard, one of the physicians 
of the Liverpool Infirmary, cannot fail to excite the most lively 
interest. 

" In the latter end of December, 1796, all the children of a family 
in his (Dr. Gerard's) neighbourhood, five in number, had been 
attacked in succession with scarlet fever ; four of these were recover- 
ing, but one was dangerously ill, when the father of the family, with 
whom one of the children had slept, was himself seized with all the 
symptoms of the disease. He had excessive pain in his head and 

r 



210 APPENDIX. 

back, and flying pains all over him. He had frequent rigors, loss 
of appetite, and sickness, with some flushing of the face, but without 
any efflorescence of the skin, or affection of the throat. This was his 
situation when Dr. Gerard was called in, about sixteen hours after 
the first attack. An emetic, and afterwards a cathartic, were ordered, 
but their operation was slow and imperfect ; and on visiting him 
ten or twelve hours afterwards, he was not materially relieved. 

" Entertaining no sort of doubt of the nature of the attack, these 
symptoms foreboded that the epidemic would, in this instance, be 
severe ; and Dr. Gerard determined to try the affusion of cold 
water, from which, in typhus, he had seen such happy effects. 
Accordingly, the operation was performed, and with a result that far 
exceeded his hopes. As he was much debilitated, half a pint of hot 
wine was given him after it, and on being put to bed, the symptoms 
of fever were found nearly gone ; a genial warmth diffused itself 
over the extremities of his body, followed by perspiration and sleep. 
Next day he complained of a slight degree of headache and lassitude ; 
Dr. Gerard therefore ordered the affusion to be repeated, as well as 
the warm wine after it ; the symptoms of the disease vanished, and 
never reappeared. 

" A day or two afterwards, a maid, who had been hired as an 
assistant to attend the sick children, and who had been about a week 
in the house, was attacked by the precise symptoms already related, 
and which had uniformly ushered in the epidemic. She took an 
emetic on the first attack with little benefit, and soon after the cold 
water was poured over her, the wine being administered after it. In 
this case the remedies were used earlier than in the former one ; — 
they were used once only : the febrile paroxysm was dissolved, and 
never returned. 

" The result of these cases communicated by Dr. Gerard, leads to a 
variety of important reflections. That the affusion of cold water 
extinguishes the incipient scarlatina, as well as the typhus, can 
scarcely be doubted ; and thus this powerful and simple remedy is 
extended to another, and a most important class of diseases. That 
the disease was extinguished without the specific efflorescence of the 
skin, or affection of the throat, is a circumstance not a little curious. 
It seems to demonstrate that this efflorescent is the product of the 
eruptive fever : and that the fever itself being destroyed in the first 
instance, the efflorescent matter is never produced. Thus we are 
freed from the apprehension which a false theory might suggest 
against extinguishing a process by which nature was extricating 



APPENDIX. 211 

itself from an acrimony which the system had imbibed. Thus, also, 
our conclusion is supported, that the eruptive fever of small-pox is 
the cause, and not, as some have supposed, the consequence of the 
progress of assimilation ; and that the diminution of this fever by 
cool air, and still more by the affusion of cold water, actually dimi- 
nishes the quantity of matter assimilated, and, in certain cases, 
wholly prevent the assimilation." 

Thus far Dr. Currie. In accordance with the above hypothesis, I 
beg to quote the following cases, related by Dr. Baynard, on cold 
baths. "I remember," says Dr. B., "about two years since, a learned 
divine told me, that in a small town, not far from him, many died 
of a malignant small-pox. A certain boy, a farmer's son, was seized 
with a pain in his head and back, vomited, was feverish, and had all 
the symptoms of the small-pox. This youth had promised some of 
his comrades to go a swimming with them that day, which, notwith- 
standing his illness, he was resolved to do, and did so, but never 
heard more of his small-pox. Within three or four days, the father 
was seized just as the son was, and he was resolved to take Jack's 
remedy ; his wife dissuaded him from it, but he was resolved upon 
it, and did immerge in cold water, and was after it very well. A 
gentleman, delirious in the small-pox, ran in his shirt in the snow, 
at least a mile, and knocked them up in the house where he went, 
they being all in bed ; the small-pox sunk, yet, by the benefit of a 
looseness, he recovered. Dr. Dover of Bristol told me of a vintner's 
drawer, in Oxford, that in the small-pox went into a great tub of 
water, and there sat at least two hours, and yet the fellow recovered 
and did well." 

Dr. Currie observes, that the prevention of the assimilation of 
small-pox, by wholly extinguishing the eruptive fever, if it were in 
our power, would not be advisable, since it must leave the patient 
exposed to the future influence of that contagion. 

Sponging the surface of the body with cold water was practised 
by Dr. J. G. Hahn, of Breslau, in 1736, during the prevalence of a 
severe epidemic fever, which first made its appearance amongst the 
cattle.* Dr. Currie quotes several cases narrated in the Acta 
Germanica, and passes the following criticism on Hahn's practice : — 
" Instead," says he, " of pouring the water over the naked body, he 
applied sponges soaked in cold water to every part of the surface in 
succession, and seems to have continued the application for some 

* This Dr. Hahn was a cousin of Dr. John Sigmund Hahn, who practised at 
Schweidnitz in Silesia, and from whose work I have made such copious extracts. 

p2 



212 APPENDIX. 

time together ; in my judgment the least efficacious, as well as the 
most hazardous manner of using the remedy. He does not seem 
in general to have used the ablutions till the eighth or ninth 
day of fever, and till the cases were growing desperate from 
the failure of other means. At this advanced stage, the ablutions, 
as might be expected, seem to have been of very inferior efficacy. 
Yet, in the single case in which, from the impossibility of the 
patient's swallowing medicines, they were used on the second day of 
the fever, the recovery was speedy ; it appeared certain on the 
eighth day ; and this might have encouraged an earlier trial of the 
same practice in other instances. But what appears most surprising 
is, that he does not seem to have been regulated in the use. of this 
remedy either by the actual heat of the patient, or his sensations of 
heat. In his own case he expressly declares, that the cold ablutions 
were used on the fifteenth day of the fever, when he was shivering 
with cold, and covered with cold sweat ; circumstances under which 
I should pronounce it to be in the most extreme degree dangerous. 
From a general review of the incautious practice of Dr. Hahn, I am 
not surprised that his boasted remedy is, so far as I can learn, no 
longer in use, either in Silesia or in any other part of Germany." 

On the internal use of Cold Water in Fever. 

" The doctrine of the celebrated Boerhaave, that a lentor in the 
blood is the cause of fever, led him to insist on the use of warm 
drink, and the danger of cold ; and his commentator, Van Swieten, 
though he allows cold drink in some instances, yet in general argues 
against it. These learned theorists prevailed in their day over the 
voice of nature, and the precepts of Hippocrates and Hoffman." 

The rules which Dr. Currie lays down respecting the use of cold 
drink in fever, are precisely the counterpart of those respecting the 
affusion of cold water. " 1. Cold water is not to be used as a drink 
in the cold stage of a paroxysm of fever, however urgent the thirst. 
Taken at such times it increases the chilliness and torpor of the 
surface and extremities, and produces a sense of coldness in the 
stomach, augments the oppression on the prsecordia, and renders the 
pulse more frequent and more feeble. If the thirst is gratified in 
the cold stage of the paroxysm, it ought to be with warm liquids. — 
2. When the hot stage is fairly formed, and the surface is dry and 
burning, cold water may be drank with the utmost freedom. Large 
draughts of cold liquids at this period are highly grateful ; they 



APPENDIX. 213 

generally diminish the heat of the surface several degrees, and they 
lower the frequency of the pulse. When they are attended with these 
salutary effects, sensible perspiration and sleep commonly follow. 
Throughout the hot stage of the paroxysm cold water may be safely 
drank, and more freely in proportion as the heat is farther advanced 
above the natural standard. It may even be drank in the beginning 
of the sweating stage, though more sparingly. Its cautious use at 
this time will promote the floiv of the perspiration, which, after it has 
commenced, seems often to be retarded by a fresh increase of animal 
heat.* — 3. But after the perspiration has become general and profuse, 
the use of cold drink is strictly to be forbidden. At this time, an 
inconsiderate draught of cold water will produce a sudden chilliness, 
both on the surface and at the stomach, with a great sense of debi- 
lity, and much oppression and irregularity of respiration. At such 
times, on applying the thermometer to the surface, the heat has been 
found suddenly and greatly reduced. The proper remedy is to apply 
a bladder filled with water, heated from 110° to 120°, to the scro- 
biculus cordis, or pit of the stomach, and to administer small and 
repeated doses of tincture of opium, as recommended by Dr. Rush. 
By these means the heat is speedily restored. This effect of cold 
water, used as a drink during profuse perspiration, is precisely ana- 
logous to the affusion of it at such times on the surface of the body, 
a practice known to be of the utmost danger, and enumerated by 
Hoffman among the causes of sudden death. 

" Cold water may be used as a drink precisely the same as a cold 
affusion, when there is no sense of chilliness present, ivhen the heat of the 
surface is steadily above ivhat is natural, and ivhen there is no general 
or profuse perspiration.'''' 

Dr. Currie has collected a great many cases of sudden death from 
drinking large draughts of cold water when in a state of profuse 
perspiration accompanied with fatigue. Quintus Curtius, in giving 
an account of the march of the army of Alexander the Great in 
pursuit of Bessus, says, — " At length, fainting under their toils, they 
reached the banks of the river Oxus, where, by indulging in large 
draughts of the stream, Alexander lost a greater number of his troops 
than in any of his battles." A similar disaster occurred to the soldiers 
of a Roman army during the civil wars, and to those of the Christian 
army during the crusades. 

He then recites the dangerous consequences of bathing in cold 

* This is exactly in accordance with the practice observed at Graefenberg 
during the sweating process. 



214 APPENDIX. 

water under the same circumstances; and amongst others refers to 
the well-known case of Alexander the Great bathing in the river 
Cydnus. In his concluding remarks, he considers that exhaustion 
proceeding from fatigue renders it highly dangerous, and gives the 
following case in point : — In the experiments of Dr. Fordyce and 
Sir Charles Blagden, no injury resulted from exposure to cold. 
" ' After exposing our naked bodies to the heat, and sweating most 
violently, we instantly went into a cold room, and staid there even 
some minutes before we began to dress ; yet no one received the least 
injury.' Had they," observes Dr. C, " continued exposed naked 
to the cold air till the heat sunk as low as its natural standard, and 
the heart and arteries subsided into their usual state of action, their 
situation would have been very hazardous." 

He takes notice of the Russian baths, and mentions " that it is 
common for the workmen in the glass-manufactory at Glasgow, after 
enduring for some time the consuming heat of their furnaces, to 
plunge into the Clyde, a practice which they find in no respect in- 
jurious. The Romans heated their baths to the utmost pitch of 
endurance ; and as they rose reeking from their surface, vessels full 
of cold water were dashed over their naked bodies, as a high gratifi- 
cation in itself, and a means of stimulating their senses to gratifications 
still higher." 

Remarking on the use of the cold bath in convulsive diseases, he 
draws the following conclusion, that " the chief benefit derived from 
the cold bath in convulsive diseases depends on its being used in the 
paroxysm of convulsion ; that its efficacy consists in resolving or 
abating the paroxysm ; and that when this effect is produced, the 
return of the paroxysm is greatly retarded, if not entirely prevented. 
He then gives a case of epilepsy in consequence of a fright, cured by 
the cold bath without medicines. But he used it in other cases without 
advantage. In another case, where the paroxysm returned periodically 
every afternoon, a cure was effected by applying a cataplasm, formed 
chiefly of tobacco, to the scrobiculus cordis, about half an hour before 
the expected return." 

The following case is interesting: — "My friend, Dr. Ford, has men- 
tioned to me the case of Mr. C. of Bristol, who was instantly relieved 
of an obstinate stricture of the neck of the bladder of thirty hours' 
duration, (during all which time not a drop of water had passed,) by 
placing his feet on a marble slab, and dashing cold water over his 
thighs and legs. The effect was instantaneous ; the urine burst from 
him in a full stream, and the stricture was permanently removed. 



APPENDIX. 215 

The common remedies, particularly opium and bleeding, and each of 
these very largely, had previously been used in vain. 

" Cold water cannot be used as a drink during the paroxysm of 
convulsions, and of course we cannot show the analogy between its 
external and internal use in these, as in other diseases. That its 
effects, taken internally, are most salutary in a numerous class of 
chronic diseases, is, however, well known, though perhaps not 
acknowledged to the full extent of the truth. A considerable part 
of the virtues of mineral waters is doubtless to be attributed either 
to the diluting quality of the pure element itself, or to the invigo- 
rating effects of cold upon the stomach, and, through it, on the 
system at large." 

He relates a cure of furious insanity, supposed to have been 
brought on by excessive drinking, after trying various remedies, as 
opium, foxglove, bark, sulphate of iron, emetics, and the tepid affu- 
sion, in vain ; at last, the cold bath was decided on. " The patient 
was therefore thrown headlong into the cold bath. He came out 
calm, and nearly rational ; and this interval of reason continued for 
twenty-four hours. The same practice was directed to be repeated 
as often as the state of insanity recurred. Two days afterwards he 
was again thrown into the cold bath, in the height of his fury, as 
before. As he came out he was thrown in again, and this was 
repeated five different times, till he could not leave the bath without 
assistance. He became perfectly calm and rational in the bath, and 
has remained so ever since. He never relapsed, and was discharged 
some time afterwards in perfect health of body and mind." 

General View of Doctrines respecting Fever. 

" Hippocrates, perceiving the increase of heat to be the most re- 
markable symptom in fever, assumed this for the cause, and founded 
his distinction of fevers on the different degrees of the intenseness of 
this heat. His practice appears to have been natural and judicious, 
and founded on his theory.* He directed linen dipped in cold water 
to be applied to the hottest parts; drew blood away both by cupping- 
glasses and the lancet; and administered cold water and cooling 
drinks, particularly barley-water and honey. 

" It was the postulate of Sydenham that every disease is nothing else 
but an endeavour of nature to expel morbific matter of one hind or 

* Contraries are cured by contraries. Aph. xxii. sect. 2. 



216 APPENDIX. 

another, by which the healthy operations are impeded. In this en- 
deavour she is not to be obstructed, but assisted, and the process 
carefully watched and promoted by which she accomplishes her 
purpose. By one or other of the emunctories this is finally effected, 
and till it be effected, health cannot be restored. Under this general 
notion, the inordinate actions of fever are perpetually compared to the 
motions of fermentation, by which nature separates the vitiated 
particles from the blood previous to their expulsion. 

" Hoffman supposed the noxious cause producing fever to operate 
first on the living solids, occasioning a general spasm of the nervous 
and fibrous system, beginning in the external parts and proceeding 
towards the centre. In consequence of this a contraction of the 
vessels of the extremities must of course take place, impelling the 
circulating fluids in an increasing ratio on the heart and lungs; 
which stimulating these organs to increased action, the fluids are 
thereby repelled towards the extremities, and thus the phenomena of 
fever are produced. There are therefore two distinct sets of motions 
in fever, the first from the extremities towards the centre, arising 
immediately from the spasm, and accompanied by a small pulse, 
anxiety, and oppression ; the second, from the centre towards the 
surface, which is the effort of nature to resolve the spasm, and marked 
by a full strong pulse, and increased heat. The first of these sets of 
motions are baneful, and sometimes fatal ; the second are medicinal 
and salutary. 

" Dr. Cullen introduced a previous link into the chain. He con- 
tended that the first effect of the noxious effluvia (the remote cause) 
was a general debility affecting the sensorium commune; to this 
debility he attributed the spasm, and to the spasm the reaction of the 
heart and arteries; which reaction, continuing until the spasm is 
resolved, removes the debility and the disease." 

Dr. Currie is of opinion " that the remote cause of fever itself may 
perhaps be considered as a poison, acting directly on the sensorium 
commune. When this poison is peculiarly concentrated and 
malignant, or where the system is much debilitated, the powers of 
life are sometimes oppressed and extinguished in the first stage of the 
disease.* In general a reaction or resistance commences, while a 
spasmodic stricture of the extreme vessels opposes the reflux of the 

* Porters have been known to drop down suddenly dead on opening bales of 
goods infected with the miasmata of the plague. In like manner have others on 
inhaling certain mephitic vapours contained in privies, or on opening places of 
sepulture. 



APPENDIX. 217 

fluids. This constitutes what appears to be the struggle between the 
living energy and the morbid cause — between the power of the centre 
and the resistance of the extreme vessels. It is a serious error to 
suppose that the febrile poison, being received into the system, is the 
principal cause of the symptoms, and that they consist in a struggle 
of nature to expel it, without which health cannot be restored. It 
is safer to consider the febrile poison as an agent that excites the 
system into fever, which, however, is carried on, not by the continued 
"presence and agency of this poison, but by the 'principles which regidate 
the actions of life. We are not therefore to wait for the sanative 
process by which nature is supposed to separate this virus, and to 
throw it oiF, watching her motions, and assisting her purposes ; but 
to oppose the fever in every stage of its progress with all our skill, 
and to bring it to as speedy a termination as is in our power.* 

" The duration of immersion must depend on the effects on the 
pulse, on the sensations, and on the heat measured by the thermometer. 
A greater degree of coolness will be produced by alternately raising the 
patient into the air, where the wind blows over his naked body, and 
sinking him into the water, than by continued immersion. The 
utmost care is necessary in a process of this kind, to guard against 
the effects of fatigue." Dr. C. then alludes to the case of Sir John 
Chardin, " who, when at Gambroom in the year 1673, was cured by 
this means of a burning fever, attended by delirium, after every other 
remedy had proved ineffectual. About three years ago, Captain 

S , in the height of delirium, sprung out of his cabin-window, 

and was upwards of twenty minutes in the water. He was taken up 
perfectly calm, and speedily recovered. 

" While the different modes of applying cold water to the surface 

* Though I perfectly agree with the practice, yet I can by no means subscribe 
to the theory, and which appears to me uncalled for. The morbific poison is, 
perhaps, in every case, not gradually, but suddenly, absorbed into the system, 
and there is no reason to suppose why it may not be as suddenly expelled. 
This need not take place by the slow process of "coction," or by a critical 
evacuation, but the virus may be conducted at once out of rtie body by the direct 
agency of the nervous system. Our observations on the all-important functions 
of this system are extremely limited. The nervous fluid, like its prototype the 
electric fluid, seems to possess great powers of conduction. Thus, upon drinking 
abundantly, in order to prevent a plethora of the vessels, the fluid is conducted 
direct to the kidnies, across the tissues, without entering into the circulation, 
which would be a slow process. In a somewhat similar way may the disease be 
cut short, the morbific particles or miasmata being at once conducted out of the 
body by the nervous fluid, thus powerfully excited by the galvanic influence of 
cold water. 



218 APPENDIX. 

are employed, it ought also to be poured into the stomach in large 
quantities, when the patient's heat will permit it; and the presence 
of nausea and vomiting is no objection to this practice, if a chilliness 
of the stomach is not produced. (This last caution is of great im- 
portance.) 

" The salutary effects of the cold bath, and of cold drink in fever, 
strongly recommend the adoption of these remedies in the plague. 
Morendi, a physician at Venice, observes, that some sailors at Con- 
stantinople, in the phrensy of the plague, have thrown themselves into 
the sea ; and it is said that, on being taken out, they have recovered. 

" Savary, in his letters on Egypt, observes, that if heat were the 
source of their disorders, the Said would be uninhabitable. The 
burning fever (the Causus of the Greeks) is the only one it gives rise 
to, and to which the inhabitants are subject. They soon get rid of it by 
regimen, drinking a great deal of water, and bathing themselves in 
the river. A captain of a ship (a man of credit) having some sailors 
on board affected by the plague, caught the infection. " I felt," says 
the captain, " an excessive heat which made my blood boil; my head 
was very soon attacked, and I perceived I had but a few moments to 
live. I employed the little judgment I had left to make an expe- 
riment. I stripped myself quite naked, and laid myself, for the 
remainder of the night, on the deck ; the copious dew that fell pierced 
me to the very bones ; in a few hours it rendered my respiration free 
and my head more composed. The agitation of my blood was calmed, 
and after bathing myself in sea-water, I recovered." 

" Masuah," says Bruce, "is very unwholesome. Violent fevers are very 
prevalent, and generally terminate on the third day in death. If the 
patient survives till the fifth day, he very often recovers by drinking- 
water only, and throwing a quantity of cold water over him, even in 
his bed, where he is permitted to lie without attempting to make him 
dry, till another deluge adds to the first. It is really," he says, " a 
malignant tertian. It always begins with a shivering and headache, 
a heavy eye, and an inclination to vomit. The face assumes a 
remarkable yellow* appearance." This, observes Dr. Currie, is doubtless 
the yellow fever of the West Indies and America. 

Speaking of the local application of cold to parts inflamed, he 
says, " it must not be sudden and temporary, but great in degree, and 
permanent in duration. Hence the success with which ice and snow, 
and the clay-cap, are applied to different parts, for the purpose of 
preventing or reducing inflammation. In all such cases the sensation 
of cold speedily subsides, and even though ice be lying on the part 



APPENDIX. 219 

affected." The following observation is important. " It is well known 
that the general action of cold may be extended over the system by its 
application to a part. The use of cold in haemorrhagies is often 
regulated by this maxim. I have found that hsemorrhagy from the 
lungs may be stopped by immersing the feet in cold water, and 
perhaps this may be done still more certainly by a permanent 
application of cold to the penis and scrotum, which part with their 
heat more easily than any other portion of the surface of the body. 
I have found that a still more powerful effect was produced in 
haeinoptoe, by immersing the body up to the pubes in cold water, a 
practice that I can speak of from experience as often safe and effi- 
cacious in this disease." 

Of Tetanous and Convulsive Disorders. 

The history of the case of George Gardner is highly instructive and 
interesting. " The head was pulled towards the left shoulder, the left 
corner of the mouth was thrown upwards, the eyes were holloAv, the 
countenance pale and ghastly, the face and neck bedewed with a cold 
sweat ; but his most distressing symptom was a violent pain under the 
ensiform cartilage, with a sudden interruption of his breathing every 
fourth or fifth inspiration, by a convulsive hiccup, accompanied by 
a violent contraction of the muscles of the abdomen and lower extre- 
mities. He felt on this occasion as if he had received an unexpected 
blow on the scrobiculus cordis. Before I saw him he had been bled, 
and vomited repeatedly, and had used the warm bath, not only without 
alleviation, but with aggravation of his complaints. 

" Opium, mercury, and the cold bath were used in succession. At 
first, a grain of opium every other hour, afterwards a grain every 
hour, and at last two grains every hour ; but he grew worse 
and worse during the two days this course was continued. Being- 
no longer able to swallow the pills on the night of the 22 d 
February, general convulsions came on once or twice in every 
hour. The tincture of opium was now directed to be given, and 
an ounce of the quicksilver ointment to be rubbed in on each 
thigh. In twenty-four hours he took two ounces and a half 
of the tincture without sleep or alleviation of pain. The dose 
being increased, in the next twenty-six hours he swallowed five 
ounces and a half of the laudanum. He lay now in a state of torpor. 
The rigidity of the spasms was indeed much lessened, and the 
general convulsions nearly gone ; but the debility was extreme ; a 
complete hemiplegia had supervened ; the eyes were fixed, and the 



220 



APPENDIX. 



speech faltering- and unintelligible. Intermitting the opium, which 
had relieved the pain, but brought on general paralysis, small doses 
of camphor were given in a liquid form, and gruel with a small 
quantity of wine to support the strength. For the next six days he 
seemed to revive; but on the night of the 1st of March, he was 
seized, during sleep, with a convulsion as severe as ever: the jaws 
were more completely locked than before, deglutition was become 
impossible, and the pain under the ensiform cartilage was so extreme 
as to force from the patient the most piercing cries. At this time 
the effects of the quicksilver ointment were apparent in the fcetor of 
the breath, and in a considerable salivation. 

" All other remedies being in vain, it was now resolved to try the 
cold bath. Gardner was, therefore, carried to the public salt-water 
bath, then of the temperature of 36° Fahr., and thrown headlong 
into it. The good effects were instantaneous. As he rose from the 
first plunge, and lay struggling on the surface of the water, sup- 
ported by two of his fellow-soldiers, we observed that he stretched 
out his left leg, which had been for some time retracted to the ham ; 
but his head did not immediately recover the same freedom of mo- 
tion, and therefore he was plunged down and raised to the surface 
successively for upwards of a minute longer, the muscles of the neck 
relaxing more and more after every plunge. When taken out we 
felt some alarm ; a general tremor was the only indication of life ; 
the pulse and the respiration being nearly, if not entirely, suspended. 
Warm blankets had, however, been prepared, and a general friction 
was diligently employed. The respiration and the pulse became 
regular, the vital heat returned, the muscles continued free of con- 
striction, and the patient fell into a quiet and profound sleep. In 
this he continued upwards of two hours, and when he awaked, to the 
astonishment of every one, he got up and walked across the room, 
complaining of nothing but hunger and debility. The convulsive 
hiccup indeed returned, but in a slight degree, and gave way to the 
use of the cold bath ; which he continued daily a fortnight longer ; 
and in less than a month, we had the satisfaction of seeing our 
patient under arms, able for the service of his country. 

" That the opium, though it failed in effecting a cure, had a con- 
siderable influence in mitigating the disease," and prolonging life, is, I 
think, apparent.* That the mercury had little effect, is clear from 
the second convulsions coming on so soon after the salivation appeared. 

* The effect of the opium was temporary ; as soon as the system ceased to be 
under its influence, the convulsions returned with redoubled violence. 



APPENDIX. 221 

" Subsequent experience has taught me to attribute some part of 
the suddenness of the benefit obtained in this instance to a circum- 
stance that distressed me much at the moment. The very instant 
we were about to immerge poor Gardner, he was seized with a 
general convulsion. We hesitated, but kept our purpose, and 
happily plunged him into the water with the convulsion upon him. 
I am also inclined to think that our success is in part to be ascribed 
to the powerful, general, and sudden application of the remedy, 
and under this opinion I should prefer immersion in water to its 
affusion." 

Here follows another case of a poor woman seized with spasmus 
cynicus, locked jaw, and other symptoms of tetanus. She was cured 
by the cold bath. The spasms returned in a slight degree after the 
first, but gave way entirely to a second immersion. 

" In the convulsions of children I have found the cold bath a useful 
remedy, whether the disorder originated in worms or other causes. 
I have seldom known it to fail in stopping the paroxysms, at least, 
for some time, and thereby giving an opportunity of employing the 
means fitted to remove the particular irritation." 

Concluding Remarks. — " It appears that the efficacy of the cold 
bath in convulsive disorders is much promoted by being employed 
during the presence of convulsion. In spasmodic diseases which do 
not rise to general convulsion, the cold bath seems to be of inferior 
efficacy. In Chorea Sancti Viti, I have tried it frequently, but 
never found it of any service. In the hysteric paroxysm, the cold 
bath, or indeed the plentiful affusion of cold water, is an infallible 
remedy." 

It was in the beginning both of the typhus and of the yellow fever 
that Dr. Currie found " the cold bath produced the happiest effects, a 
diminished frequency of the pulse, a diminished heat of the body, 
and a flow of sensible perspiration. — The history, indeed, of all 
fevers, of every country, uniformly points out the salutary conse- 
quence of early and profuse sweating, of which, even the epidemic 
which prevailed between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
known under the name of sudor Anglicus, or sweating sickness, is not 
an exception." 



299 



APPENDIX. 



J AS. WAINE WRIGHT, M.D. 

An Enquiry into the Nature and Use of Baths, (he. &c. — 5th ed. 1737. 

Washing with cold water heats robust bodies, and refrigerates 
weak ones. Sanctorius, Aph. 1, § 2. 

" Cold bathing is a specific in the rickets ; haemorrhages, whether 
from the nose, intestines, or uterus, are not only stopped by cold 
bathing, but their return is prevented. 

" Bathing will always act the part of a diuretic, and plunging over 
the head in cold water, especially in sea water, will do more in the 
cure of melancholy madness, and particularly in that occasioned by 
the bite of a mad dog, than any other medicine. There is nothing 
more adapted to the cure of frigidity r , when owing to a former excess 
of venery, than a cold bath. 

" It will also contribute its share to the cure, both of a simple 
gonorrhoea, and fluor albus. 'Tis often successful in a palsy, and they 
who use it much are very little affected with the change of weather ; 
and yet the abuse of bathing is very prejudicial; for Bath guides are 
generally of a pale and ghastly countenance, of a bloated habit of 
body, with ulcerated and swelled legs, which often ends in a dropsy. 

" It is never safe for those to bathe who have weak or ulcerated 
bowels; nor can they, without danger of life, or swooning at least, 
who have a very weak pulse, enter into a cold bath. 

u One that goes into a cold bath, if he plunge not himself over head, 
is subject to the headache. People are cheerful, brisk, and lively 
after bathing, because the perspirable matter is thrown off more 
plentifully, according to Sanctorius's observation (Aph. 17, § 7;) viz. 
melancholy is overcome by a free perspiration, and cheerfulness 
without an evident cause, proceeds from perspiration succeeding well. 

" Cold bathing cures the itch, leprosy, and elephantiasis; it cures 
the palsy, melancholy, madness, and the bite of a mad dog; it helps 
the passage of gravel, and also helps cachectic, icteric, and hydropic 
people, before the distempers be too far advanced. 

Of Wearing Flannel. — " By what fate so many of late fall in with 
an opinion of the advantage of wearing flannel I can't tell; but 
this I am well satisfied of, that it does hurt to two for one that 
receives benefit from it, and there is none to whom flannel is more 
prejudicial than those to whom it is generally prescribed, being weak, 
faint, or hectic people. 

" A consumptive gentlewoman in Sheffield, by the advice of a 



APPENDIX. 223 

physician, putting on a flannel shift, though she was able very well 
to walk about the house, in two days' time was confined to her bed 
(from whence she never rose), without any other evident cause than 
wearing flannel. 

" If what I have said be of force enough to persuade any to leave 
off wearing it, I would advise them to do it in a warm season, and 
at the same time, either make use of the cold bath, or the flesh-brush, 
which will prevent the inconveniences that would otherwise attend it. 

" I was persuaded to wear flannel next my skin, above ten years 
ago, for a severe cough that I had got; by which, I think, I received 
some advantage, but after I had worn it a year or two, I found it very 
troublesome and prejudicial to my health; it made me so exceedingly 
tender, that I was not able to bear the least cold; and I found by 
the experiment of leaving it off, how much it disposed me to faintness, 
which I mightily suspected before, and, therefore, I attempted several 
times in vain to get quit of it, but could not, without some in- 
conveniency greater than I was willing to bear, till about two years 
since, in a hot season, going into a cold bath, I left it off without any 
damage." 

" Of Drinking Water. — Sanctorius (Aph. 67, § 3,) tells us, that 
drinking of water hinders insensible perspiration, but advances 
sensible. So that water drinking is proper in fevers, the ancients 
giving as much as the patients would drink, as also in all chronical 
distempers in which there is an effervescence of the humours, such as 
the gout, defluxions, headache, hysterical illness, falling sickness, 
dull sight, melancholy, bilious, haemorrhages, and putrefactions of the 
mouth, as Sir John Floyer informs us. Our common spring water 
would perform many of the cures done by our mineral waters, could 
they be taken in the same quantity." 



NICOLO CRESCENZO. 

Ragionamenti intorno alia nuova Medicina delV Acaua. 1727. 

On the use of cold water given in large quantities, which is called 
a full course of water (dieta aqicea perfetta). " It must be always 
given cold, and ivithout any food for the space of seven or eight days, 
or a longer period. A tumbler full of water, or rather less, is to be 
administered every hour, or every hour and a half, according to the 
intensity of the disease, and the strength of the patient. Towards 
the latter end of the course it is to be gradually diminished, first to 



224 



APPENDIX. 



a medium quantity, and at last to a small quantity. Of these two 
courses the author has before treated. 

" This full course of water in a large quantity is adapted for all vio- 
lent and acute diseases, which run their course in a short time, speedily 
terminating in death ; as in every species of ardent continued fever, 
of a malignant character, every internal inflammation, also in every 
internal abscess, in short, in every case accompanied with a high degree 
of fever. When the fever is violent and burning, producing, as it were, 
a combustion in the body, accompanied with a parched tongue, 
unextinguishable thirst, and high-coloured urine, the water should 
be administered the first time in a large dose, namely, four or more 
copious draughts or tumblerfulls, then we should desist, waiting for 
the sweat to break out, the patient being covered with a few bed 
clothes. Should this single dose of water be sufficient, we must guard 
against giving any during perspiration. But if the sweat should not 
break out in the course of three or four hours, the dose should be 
repeated every hour or hour and a half, the patient being slightly 
covered, and the room kept perfectly cool, and thus the disease may 
be carried off by urine." 

The author then recommends this full course of water in other 
diseases besides fevers, as in diabetes, cholera, bilious diarrhoea, ne- 
phritis, colic, erisepelas, apoplexy, and after parturition. 

He says, "when the fever has disappeared, and the appetite re- 
turned, the patient may be allowed to take food, at first, very cautiously, 
as the yolks of one or two soft-boiled eggs, drinking a single glass of 
water; on the second day this may be repeated twice; on the third day 
four eggs may be given, or five spoonfulls of bread boiled in water, 
and this to be daily gradually increased to the patient's usual diet. 

" In other fevers of a milder character, the water is to be taken 
frequently, in a smaller quantity, and very cold or iced." The treat- 
ment very much resembles that of Dr. Hancock, or Father Bernardo, 
from one of whom it was probably derived. 



Todaro. 

Be Aqua Frigida. 

" Galen says, he has seen many cured of a severe pain in the stomach 
in a single day by drinking cold water. ' Velasius de Taranta. Novi, 
inquit, aliquas mulieres se sentientes habere hujusmodi ulcere in 
utero, lavabant ea cum aqua frigida, mundabant deinde, et pannis 



APPENDIX. 225 

lineis exsiccabant, et in matricem mittebant frequenter, atque 
iisdem ssepe mutatis, ac ipsa aqua per se saepe ad integram cura- 
tionem sufficiebant.' Eiverius says, that hernia, accompanied with 
inflammation of the intestines, may be cured by fomentations, or 
linen dipped in cold water. Gelsus informs us, that a slight cut or 
wound may be cured by applying sponges squeezed out of cold water • 
but that, in whatever way the sponge may be applied, it is only of 
benefit as long as it retains the moisture. Galen also informs us, 
that he has cured many cases of burning continued fever, by giving 
his patients nothing but cold water to drink, and that not one of his 
patients died who had recourse to this simple remedy (tempore 
opportune) sufficiently early. 

'- A nun had a painful tumour on the instep, which had resisted 
every remedy for three years, and was cured by applying snow and cold 
water. Another, suffering from vertigo and (obstructione in lienis) 
an obstinate constipation, was cured by drinking cold water, and 
applying a linen dipped or moistened ivith cold water to the region of 
the spleen, or over the stomach. 

" Ducissa Cruyllas imminentem abortum cum atroci lumborum 
dolore, et pondere circa pubem, necnon icterica facta suse gestationis 
tempore timebat ; et solo aquse frigidse usu, nivi etiam partibus 
apposite, ab hac imminenta liberam se vidit ruina. Et rursum 
mense Martii, 1722, eum parere non posset ; frigida epota, et nive in 
manu habita, statim peperit omnium cum stupore." 



Dr. Maddocks observes, that the affusion of cold water acts upon 
the nervous system. "Duplex corporis habitus est," he says, "unde 
duplex quoque morborum genus nascitur ;" alluding to those diseases 
which appertain to the nervous system, and those which belong to 
the humoral pathology, or the condition of the fluids ; in either kind 
the water treatment is equally beneficial. 



The poet Thomson thus describes the bracing effects of cold : — 
" Close crowds the shining atmosphere, and binds 
Our strengthened bodies in its cold embrace 
Constringent ; feeds and animates our blood ; 
Refines our spirits, through the new-strung nerves, 
In swifter sallies, darting to the brain, 
Where sits the soul, intense, collected, cool, 
B.-ight as the skies, and as the season keen." — Winter, line 697. 
Q 



226 APPENDIX. 



DR. SIMPSON. 

Observations on Cold Bathing. 

This author states, that " Nature forbids a sudden transition from 
heat to cold. Delicate people ought to accustom themselves to cold 
bathing by degrees. They should begin with a temperate bath, and 
gradually use it cooler, till at length the coldest proves quite agree- 
able. He advises his patients not to go into the cold bath when the 
body is chilly. In order to promote the reaction, it is necessary 
that as much exercise should be taken as will excite a gentle glow 
all over the body, but by no means so as to overheat it. The most 
proper time for using the cold bath is the morning, or immediately 
before dinner. The best mode is that of immersion head foremost. 
The frequency of bathing, and the time of continuing in the water, 
can only be determined by the nature and symptoms of the disease. 
To bathe three or four times a week will in general be found suffi- 
cient. Patients much debilitated should not bathe frequently, and 
they should remain in the water but a single moment. All the 
beneficial purposes of cold bathing are answered by one single immer- 
sion, and the patient should be rubbed dry the moment he comes out of 
the water, and continue to take exercise for so7ne time after. Although 
every precaution be observed, many weakly people are chilled and 
made worse by cold bathing ; but in such cases I have found a 
small quantity of wine, or thirty or forty drops of spirits of lavender, 
taken upon a piece of sugar immediately after coming out of the 
water, of the greatest service." * 



DR. SHORT. 



On the inward use of Cold Water. 

" Whenever water is ordered as a relaxer of the fibres, it should be 
drank warm, as in pleurisies, squincies, and other inflammations ; 
but when it is designed for a restringent, as in fluxes of the belly, 

* These observations are all very judicious, excepting the first. The sudden 
transition from heat to cold is the most effectual in producing reaction and in 
cutting short an acute disease ; for the same reason, it also requires the greatest 
caution in its application. 



APPENDIX. 227 

» 

haemorrhages, &c. it should be used cold. In this case I had occa- 
sion to experience its wonderful effects, in two or three of the female 
sex, who, having for many months laboured under an excessive flux 
of the menstrua, without the least advantage from the medicines 
used, yet, by refraining from all other liquors, and drinking water 
cold, they were speedily recovered ; but what was more remarkable, 
when at some certain times the loss of blood was greatest, yet by 
drinking a glass of very cold water, and at the same time applying 
a thick cloth dipped in ivater to the lower part of the umbilical region, 
the flux was stopped in a quarter of an hour." 



C(ELius Aurelianus recommends "in Paralysis, sea-bathing and 
to put the patients under waterfalls, or the natural douche ; after- 
wards to expose the body to the sun. In Epilepsy, the douche or 
dashing cold water over the body. In Aphonia, sponges dipped in 
cold water to be applied to the throat and fauces. In Catarrh, 
change of air, especially the sea-side, and to wash the head with 
cold water. In the Ear-ache, a stream of cold water, or dashing it 
on the whole of the head, especially near the ears. In Asthma, a 
stream of cold water on the suffering parts, sea-baths, sea-side, con- 
stant use of the cold bath. Dyspepsia, constant use of the cold bath, 
swimming in the sea, a stream of water or douche on the suffering 
parts. Elephantiasis, the douche, sea bath, cold spring-water bath, 
swimming. Colic, the douche bath. Coma, cold applications to the 
head, cold water poured from above, cold bath, cold affusion and 
friction. Typhus Fever. — The sick chamber to be kept cool, dark, 
well ventilated with fans, sprinkling the floor with cold water ; the 
face and neck of the patient to be covered all over with soft sponges 
dipped in cold water, to be removed from time to time. Then the 
chest and other parts to be sponged, squeezing out the cold water, or 
vinegar and water, constantly changing them, lest they should 
become warm. In like manner, linen cloths dipped in the juices of 
plantain, houseleek, and other cooling plants, are to be placed over 
the chest and abdomen. The drink to be cold, and given little by 
little. The mouth to be wiped and washed out with cold water. 
The food very simple ; bread soaked and washed in cold water, or 
the pulp of boiled apples, pears, quinces, medlars, mixed with cool 
fresh water, or melted snow. This author, in every part of his work, 



228 APPENDIX 

recommends the use of cold water ; and the treatment in typhus is, 
perhaps, as good as any adopted in the present day. He gives an 
excellent description of spasmodic or Asiatic cholera, which is treated 
in a similar way, sponging and washing the body with cold water, 
and cold water to drink." 



Oribasius says, those who wish to pass their lives in good health, 
should frequently wash themselves with cold water. Language is 
not sufficient to express the great and numerous advantages to be 
derived from it. Those who are accustomed to such ablutions retain, 
notwithstanding they have nearly arrived at old age, a fresh colour, 
a body firm and tense, and all the vigour of manhood. 



Cox's "Columbia River" 

" I experienced some acute rheumatic attacks in the shoulders and 
knees, from which I suffered much annoyance. An old Indian pro- 
posed to relieve me, provided I consented to follow the mode of cure 
practised by him in similar cases on the young warriors of his tribe. 
On inquiring the method he intended to pursue, he replied, that it 
merely consisted in getting up early every morning for some weeks, 
and plunging into the river, and to leave the rest to him. This was 
a most chilling proposition, for the river was firmly frozen, and an 
opening was to be made in the ice preparatory to each immersion. I 
asked him, ' Would it not answer equally well to have the water 
brought to my bed-room 1 ' But he shook his head, and replied, he 
was surprised that a young white chief, who ought to be wise, should 
ask so foolish a question. On reflecting, however, that the rheumatism 
was a stranger among Indians, while numbers of our people were 
martyrs to it, and, above all, that I was upwards of three thousand 
miles from any professional assistance, I determined to adopt the 
disagreeable expedient, and commenced operations the following 
morning. The Indian first broke a hole in the ice sufficiently large 
to admit us both, upon which he made a signal that all was ready. 
Enveloped in a large buffalo robe, I proceeded to the spot, and 
throwing off my covering, we both jumped into the frigid orifice 
together. He immediately commenced rubbing my shoulders, back, 



APPENDIX. 22. ( ) 

» 

and loins ; my hair, in the meantime, became ornamented with 
icicles ) and, while the lower joints were undergoing their friction, 
my face, neck, and shoulders were incased in a thin covering of ice. 
On getting released I rolled a blanket about me, and ran back to the 
becl-room, in which I had previously ordered a good fire, and in a 
few minutes I experienced a warm glow all over my body. Chilling 
and disagreeable as these matinal ablutions were, yet, as I found 
them so beneficial, I continued them for twenty-five days, at the 
expiration of which my physician was pleased to say, that no more 
were necessary, and that I had done my duty like a wise man. / 
was never after troubled ivith a rheumatic pain I One of our old 
Canadians, who had been labouring many years under a chronic 
rheumatism, asked the Indian if he could cure him in the same 
manner ? the latter replied, it was impossible, but that he would try 
another process. He accordingly constructed the skeleton of a hut 
about four and a half feet high, and three broad, in shape like a 
beehive, which he covered with deer-skins. He then heated some 
stones in an adjoining fire, and having placed the patient inside in a 
state of nudity, the hot stones were thrown in, and water poured 
on them ; the entrance was then quickly closed, and the man kept 
in for some time, until he begged to be released, alleging that he 
was nearly suffocated. On coming out he was in a state of profuse 
perspiration. The Indian ordered him to be immediately enveloped 
in blankets and conveyed to bed. This operation was repeated 
several times ; and although it did not effect a radical cure, the vio- 
lence of the pains was so far abated, as to permit the patient to 
follow his ordinary business, and to enjoy his sleep in comparative 
ease." 



As a further proof of the advantage of combining the cold water 
treatment with medical practice, the author begs to offer the very 
respectable testimony of Dr. Abendroth, one of the leading physicians 
at Dresden, who favoured him with the following letter on the 
subject : — 

"My dear Sir, " Dresden, 2lst January, 1843. 

" In answer to your question, whether I make use of cold water in 
my medical practice, I can tell you that I consider it a valuable 
adjunct to medicine in the cure of a great many diseases, and that 



230 



APPENDIX. 



I have soused it for many years with undoubted success. It is true 
that I could never prevail on myself to use the application of cold 
water to such an extent as it is done now at Graefenberg, being well 
aware of the danger which arises from the abuse of even the best 
thing in the world. My mode of using cold water has been generally 
confined to cold drinking, washing, and applying cold wet com- 
presses. As the want of leisure does not allow me to look over all 
my medical journals, in order to give you more instances of the 
salutary effects of cold water, I can only give you the following, 
which occur to my memory : — 

" During my residence in Odessa, I was called to see a poor man, 
who, in cutting wood, had missed the log, and forced the hatchet 
between the ossa metacarpi of the great and second toe of his foot, so 
that the latter was separated from the first, and the arteria metatarsi 
cut through. The loss of blood was so considerable, that it threat- 
ened the life of the patient. I put a bandage with some compresses 
round the foot, covered it all with ice, and continued it so for twenty- 
four hours ; after which time, I only exposed the foot to a constant 
stream of cold water, distilling from a pail, suspended over the 
injured limb. The patient had remained so for a week, when I 
took off the bandage, and found the wound almost healed up, per 
primam intentionem. The poor man went on for another week, 
putting round his foot wet compresses and bandages, which he 
changed several times a day, and was able to go to work again on 
the fourteenth day after the accident, without having used anything 
else but water. 

" A lady was very often subject to rheumatic pains in her shoulders, 
and the least exposure to cold air caused her a painful stiff neck. 
One day, when she was suffering, I covered her neck with cold wet 
napkins till the pain was gone. It ceased almost instantly, and 
never returned again, as the lady followed my advice, and continued 
washing her neck and shoulders daily with cold water. 

" Another lady, suffering from pneumonia, had taken a saline 
draught, with a small dose of nitre. A violent diarrhoea was the 
consequence of it. When I saw her the diarrhoea had lasted already 
for six days, and had weakened her so much that she lost all con- 
sciousness, and the evacuations passed from her involuntarily. Her 
tongue was brown and dry, the pulse weak, frequent, or small and 
thready, 120 in a minute. As acetas plumbi and opium had not 
the desired effect, I applied cold wet napkins upon the stomach, 
which seemed to give her great pain at first, but were borne after- 



APPENDIX. 231 

wards very well. The napkins produced an instant stopping of the 
diarrhoea, which continued for six hours, after which the patient felt 
herself considerably relieved ; and I can say that the convalescence 
began from that very moment. The symptoms of pneumonia, which 
had disappeared for the last three days, during the relaxed state of 
the bowels, never returned, and the patient was soon able to go 
about. 

"This is all I can give you at the present moment. It proves that 
water is an excellent adjuvant in the treatment of disease, provided 
that the use of it is also combined with a corresponding diet, which 
is particularly to be recommended in chronic diseases. The report, 
that a Prussian general had been cured of gout by the ' water-cure ' 
at Graefenberg, sawing and cutting, however, at the same time the 
whole stock of fire-wood of his landlord, and thus working and living 
abstemiously during the long space of four years, reminds me of an 
anecdote, imputed to Frederic, King of Prussia, who, on his walk 
through the public gardens at Berlin, met with a stout well-fed 
gentleman (one of his subjects), who complained to the king, whom 
he did not know, of the misery of his bad health, which made him 
spend half his fortune in constant travelling to watering places, 
without any relief. The king told him, that he would recommend 
him to an excellent physician at Spandau (the next station and for- 
tress), who would undertake his cure for a trifle, and that he would 
answer for the success. The gentleman accepted this offer with 
great pleasure, and took a note from his kind adviser to Spandau, 
where, on delivering it, he was by mistake, as he thought, taken into 
the fortress, and obliged to work hard with a very scanty food. He 
complained bitterly of this mistake, wrote to Berlin to his friends, 
but had no answer till, six months after his arrival at the fortress, 
the king came himself to inspect the prisoners, and was very glad to 
see his patient in perfect health, but reduced to a shadow of what he 
had been before. He congratulated him on the recovery of his 
health at such a cheap price, and sent him home cured for ever. I 
think this is an application of the advice Mr. Abernethy gave to one 
of his patients, afflicted with gout : ' Live upon sixpence a-day, and 
work for it.' 

" Yours, very sincerely, 

" W. Abendroth, M.D." 

" To Dr. Graham, Hotel de Rome." 

The late Dr. Gregory used to relate a similar anecdote to that of 
the King of Prussia and his gouty subject. A Spanish friar, cor- 



232 APPENDIX. 

pulent, and a martyr to the gout, was carried off by the Algerine 
corsairs, who compelled him to tug at the oar, as a galley-slave. He 
remained in captivity during three years ; at the expiration of which 
time he was ransomed. Hard work and a spare diet had not only 
produced a thorough change in his personal appearance, but radically 
cured him of his disease, which, as he continued to live abstemiously, 
never afterwards returned. Instances of this kind might be multi- 
plied indefinitely, proving beyond a doubt that exercise and abste- 
miousness are the only certain cure. On this principle, hydropathic 
institutions are well calculated to restore the patient ; but he should 
not imbibe the idea that the cure is effected merely by water, the 
dietetic rules to be observed are fully equivalent to the water treat- 
ment, and it is by them, and them alone, that health can ever be 
perfectly re-established and maintained. For there is a wide 
difference between relieving a fit of gout, or removing a rheumatic 
pain, and restoring the body to that healthy condition in which it 
was previous to the first invasion of disease ; it is neither water nor 
physic that can accomplish so great a task, but only the most 
implicit obedience to the laws of nature, — those laws which govern 
the organization of the body, and which were never yet transgressed 
with impunity. 

Naturam disce sequi. 



FINIS. 



LAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET 



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